Credit Cards With Small Print And Big Fees

Next time you're in London on the tube, ignore the disturbed looks from your fellow passengers and take a squint at the small print on the adverts. It could save you money!

The elegant lady sitting opposite gave me a suspicious and slightly irritated look whilst I sat leaning forward, apparently staring at her. In fact, I was squinting at the credit card advert above her on the sloping wall of the tube train. I smiled reassuringly. Her look changed from irritated to alarmed.

I cleared my throat and looked away again from the highly manicured lady -- her hair, face, and even her teeth, I think, were manicured -- to study the advert once more. It said in huge letters '0% for up to 12 months'. Fine, I was thinking, but where does it say the balance-transfer fee? Hence the squint at the small print.

I could make out five or six lines of it at the bottom of the ad, but apparently the creative who designed it thought that it wasn't entirely necessary for people to actually be able to read it from further away than six inches.

I wondered at it for a while and waited for the train to empty some more, but it kept filling up. Next stop being Kilburn, my stop, there was nothing for it. The manicured lady had got off, with a final haughty glare, but at least this gave me an opening to get closer to the ad without having to lean right over her.

I took out a pen and a piece of paper from my bag and nonchalantly stepped across to take a closer look. A few people looked up, curious at what apparently was somewhat unreserved behaviour for the tube. The hard-core Londoners kept reading their papers, having seen all the whackos before.

Even they got curious though, when I leaned over the seat and held up the piece of paper to the advert. I marked on it the height of the big text saying '0%'. After squinting for some time at the small print I found the fee, which is currently a high 3%. With some difficulty I marked the height of this text too.

I got off the tube and was instantly forgotten when the next lunatic, my favourite mad busker, stepped on to replace me, shouting at the 'lucky lucky people' who were about to hear him bellow 'Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard.'

Now, back in the safety of Fool HQ, where the curious looks have long since faded into resigned acceptance, I get a ruler and measure the marks. The big '0% deal' text was 1.7cm high. But the small print was tiny: less than 2mm. And we're supposed to read this from a metre or two away. Right.

What I got out of this experience, apart from strained eyes, is further evidence that advertising really doesn't help the consumer. Not when you can find 0% balance-transfer deals lasting 12 months with fees as low as 2%, which, compared to 3%, saves you £50 on a £5,000 transfer!

So watch out for the small print, as it may hide big fees.

You can read more about my thoughts on advertising in:
Three Slippery Home Insurance Adverts
The Worst Ten Financial Products (see point nine).

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