Credit card providers are out of touch with their customers when it comes to squeezing money out of them, it is claimed.

New research from Which? shows that 28 of the most prominent card providers had increased interest rates or other such charges.

Furthermore, it suggests the number of days people have to repay their debts has been reduced, as has the length of the interest-free period.

"They need to make credit cheaper and their charges more transparent and fair, rather than making it harder than ever for people to make ends meet and pay back their debts," says Martyn Hocking, editor of Which? Money.

He adds that with interest rates so low, credit card providers have the opportunity to "enter the real world", but are instead opting to put more pressure on consumers.

Britons are needlessly paying out more than £9 billion pounds in credit card interest each year according to research from Abbey published last month.

It discovered that one in five Britons with credit card debt are planning to transfer their outstanding balance over the next few months to take advantage of a zero per cent deal.