However, the advertised APR does not reflect the way in which interest charges are actually applied. The existence of different interest calculation methods means that when two consumers use two different credit cards with the same APR in exactly the same way, they can end up paying very different levels of interest.
For instance, the HSBC MasterCard and Sainsbury’s Bank MasterCard both charge an APR of 15.9%, however consumers who use the two cards in the same way may end up paying up to £25 more a year with the Sainsbury’s Bank MasterCard than the HSBC MasterCard.
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