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Credit card companies have increased the fees they charge people to shift balances between cards by an average of 0.5% during the past year, research showed.

Financial website MoneyExpert.com said providers now charged people who were switching balances to take advantage of introductory deals such as 0% interest an average of 2.67% of the amount being moved, up from 2.1% in September last year.

It said the increase had come since competition watchdog the Office of Fair Trading forced firms to reduce the penalty charges they levied on people who were late with repayments or breached their credit limits to £12.

The group said 160 credit cards currently gave people the option of transferring balances to them, with fees ranging from 1.75% to 3% of the amount being moved.

This means someone who was transferring an outstanding balance of £5,000 would have to pay up to £150 in fees.

The website is urging consumers to pay close attention to these transfer fees, as well as the interest rate they will be charged when they switch balances between cards.

Sean Gardner, chief executive of MoneyExpert.com, said: “Card firms have lost out since they were forced to cut so-called default charges so now customers are losing out as balance transfer fees increase.

“Analysts talk about the so-called water bed effect - cuts in one area mean increases in another area. And that has been the experience for credit card customers with new charges appearing to replace the old charges which have been cut.

“Customers should of course still switch credit cards in search of better deals and particularly if they are paying standard rates of 16.9% or so on debts. But they’ve got to remember there is a cost involved and factor that into any savings they make.”

Meanwhile online mortgage firm mform.co.uk warned that some lenders were charging consumers arrangement fees that would not be refunded even if their mortgage application was rejected.