Consumers are being rewarded for disloyalty by credit card companies restricting best offers to new customers, says Defaqto in its latest report.

Despite the introduction of some ‘anniversary’ offers for existing customers, such as those offered by the Egg Card and the Post Office’s Two in One credit card, consumers are still able to get better deals by switching to a new card.

The average duration for an introductory 0% offer lasts 9.5 months for balance transfers and 5.6 months for purchases, whereas existing customer 0% anniversary offers are typically 5 or 6 months for balance transfers, so it is not difficult to see that consumers can be better off by applying for a new card.

David Black, principal banking consultant for Defaqto, said: “There is a clear incentive for the creditworthy to review and change their credit card on a regular basis. The credit card industry is geared to routinely rewarding customer disloyalty for the creditworthy and there seems to be little evidence of this changing.”