Egg move 'won't harm credit rating'

Callcredit said it had received a number of calls from people who have been told they will not be able to continue to use their Egg card, who were worried about the impact it would have on their ability to borrow money in future.

But a Callcredit spokeswoman said: "It won't have any detrimental effect. Egg will get in touch with us to say the account has been settled and closed."

James Jones, of credit reference agency Experian, agreed that the move would not have a negative impact on people's credit reports.

He said: "Your credit report simply shows what credit you have and how you are repaying it.

"Egg are not changing the terms and conditions, just withdrawing people's ability to use credit cards for new transactions.

"If you have no balance on your card then that account will be closed, which will have a positive impact on your credit report."

Egg sent letters to 161,000 of its customers last week, informing them their credit cards will stop working in 35 days.

It claimed that the customers, who represent 7% of its two million credit cardholders, had a "higher than acceptable risk profile".

But many of those affected insist they always pay their bill off in full every month, never go over their limit and have excellent credit ratings. This prompted speculation that the internet bank made the move because the customers did not make it enough money, although this is something Egg denies.