Co-operative Bank, which has one million credit card customers, said card issuers spent more than £53 million last year promoting card deals for which there was little appetite among consumers.

The UK credit card industry spent about £84 million in total on advertising last year in an attempt to gain a bigger slice of the credit market.

However, Co-operative said that about two-thirds of this spending was wasted on promoting cards that offer 0 per cent balance transfers, which have an interest-free period on any balance transferred from another card. The bank’s research showed that only 11 per cent of consumers were considering taking out a 0 per cent card in the next six months, while 60 per cent of cardholders have never been tempted by such offers.

Sheila MacDonald, chief operating officer, said: “Credit card companies who choose to promote introductory offers do so at considerable expense even though a relatively small minority of cardholders actually choose to take them out.”

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