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Banks could hit millions of credit card customers with annual fees and higher interest rates as they look for ways of raising more cash.
Experts at PricewaterhouseCoopers say the moves will be necessary to cope with a 50 per cent rise in bad debts on credit cards, expected to be close to £5billion by the end of next year.
PwC predict a personal debt timebomb where as many as 1,000 customers a day will find it necessary to seek help because they cannot cover repayments.



Because of this, they suggest banks will look at new ways to make money.
Many credit cards already carry an annual interest rate of more than 20 per cent on outstanding balances, but this could climb above 30 per cent. Cardholders may also have to pay £25 a year simply to have an account.
The banks are also expected to turn away customers who are not considered profitable.
The PwC study, called 'Precious Plastic', said: 'Levels of write-off of this magnitude have never been experienced by the UK industry before.
'Credit will become more expensive as lenders attempt to claw back revenue lost as a result of economic and regulatory pressures.