Consumers are warned to watch out for pitfalls with interest-free credit deals.

Surrey County Council trading standards recently investigated shops offering interest free credit deals.

In sixteen of the schemes, the customer is not charged interest if the total cost of the goods is paid in full by a certain date, usually six months to a year.

But if the deadline is missed then charges are made and often at a high rate of interest and backdated to when the goods were obtained.

Trading standards found that such details of the scheme was only found in small print.

Executive member for public safety Alan Peirce said: Interest free credit can be an attractive offer and often a good way of spreading the payments for large purchases over a long period of time at no additional cost.

However, consumers should be aware that some deals may attract high charges if payment deadlines are not met.

Verbal conversations with sales staff will be difficult to prove some months after the event, so it is very important to read and understand any credit agreement before you sign it.

In addition, if you know that you may not be able to pay the

full balance by the deadline, ask yourself if this is the right deal

for you as there may be cheaper ways of financing the purchase, such as a bank loan or credit card.