UK consumers have a total of £35.2bn of outstanding interest-bearing debt on credit cards at an average rate of 17.9% APR, figures from TotallyMoney.com show.

These people are paying £17.3m of interest each day, which equates to £232 a year for every household in the UK.

By switching to a 40 month 0% balance transfer card, they could save £982.

There are approximately 60 million credit cards in use in Britain, with 57% of these balances on interest bearing cards.

Despite this, less than 5% have compared and switched credit cards in the last year. Almost 12 million have had the same primary credit card for more than five years.

The research also revealed that 25 million Brits are carrying plastic which isn’t the most appropriate or suitable for them, equating to an astonishing 83% of all credit card holders.

Alastair Douglas, chief executive of TotallyMoney.com, said: “In the UK we’re great at comparing and contrasting deals to make savings on our everyday expenditure but, as our research suggests, far too many remain blissfully unaware of the costs associated with our credit cards. We, as a nation, are throwing money down the drain.

“With balance transfer deals often running for more than three years and the best purchase offers topping two years, it’s easy to understand how consumers lose track. We urge people to put a reminder in their calendar to check their eligibility for a new 0% deal if they don’t think they’ll have cleared the balance in time.”