A store card aimed at low-income shoppers that charges more than 200 per cent interest has been branded "wicked".

The Easy Shop Card is offered by home credit firm Provident Financial in a tie-up with catalogue shopping group Argos.

People are charged £35 to borrow £100 on the card if they repay it at a rate of £5 a week over 27 weeks, giving an APR of 222.7 per cent.

The APR falls to 82.9 per cent if the money is repaid over 100 weeks at a weekly rate of £1.70.

People are able to borrow up to £300 through the card, but the money can only be spent at Argos. The loan is repaid on a weekly basis to Provident Financial agents who call at people's homes.

Liberal Democrat shadow chancellor Vince Cable described the promotion of the card in the run-up to Christmas as "wicked".

He said: "A lot of people are finding it increasingly difficult to borrow from the mainstream high street banks.

"Many may well feel they have to fall back on things like this. There is a real risk of a very large number of people being exploited as a result.

"In my view it is wicked to be promoting such high interest cards and loans at Christmas, when people feel under pressure."

Provident Financial said the £35 for borrowing £100 was a charge rather than an interest payment, adding that people would not face mounting interest or additional penalty charges if they got behind with repayments.

The group said the APR figure was misleading due to the short time frame in which the loan was repaid.

A spokesman said: "The amount people owe can never rise. There are no interest or default charges.

"Our customers like home credit, we have a 94 per cent satisfaction rating. Around three million people or one in every 20 households have used home credit at some point."

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