By Jennifer Hill

LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Britain's consumer watchdog said on Friday it was expanding its inquiry into the fees charged by credit card associations.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it woul"" >

 
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UK watchdog to expand plastic card charges probe

Fri Feb 9, 2007 6:25AM EST

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By Jennifer Hill

LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Britain's consumer watchdog said on Friday it was expanding its inquiry into the fees charged by credit card associations.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it would broaden the scope of its probe into ""interchange"" fees, which retailers pay to the banks that issue the credit cards.

The OFT has said the fees are excessive and likened them to a tax on consumers.

It plans to extend the investigation -- its longest-running ever -- to include immediate debit cards.

It is already examining MasterCard (MA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Visa's interchange fees on consumer and commercial credit cards, charge cards and deferred debit cards.

""The expansion of this investigation is consistent with the scope of the European Commission's current investigation into MasterCard's European intra-regional interchange fees,"" the OFT said in a statement.   Continued...

 

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