AN investigation into whether credit cards are being sold in a way which exploits people's tendencies to take on too much debt is to be launched by the City regulator.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has outlined the proposed scope of its market study into the credit card industry which was first announced in April.

The regulator, which took over supervision of the credit card market earlier this year, wants to uncover the reasons why some consumers might be over-borrowing or under-repaying their credit card balances and how widespread the problem could be.

It plans to find out how easy it is for credit card customers to shop around and switch to the best deal for their needs.