AS credit card bills from Christmas land on doormats across York and North Yorkshire, a York accountant has warned that people who don't play their cards right will face hefty charges.

David Walker, of Botting and Co, in Clifton Moor, said people spend three times as much on their credit cards in December than at any other time of the year.

One way to ease the pain of huge debts is to transfer them to a card offering no interest for six months and then pay the debt off in stages. But Mr Walker, who is the president of the West Yorkshire Society of Chartered Accountants, warned that many offers aren't as good as they look. He said: "Only three or four cards out of 60-odd offer nil rate on both the balance transferred and on purchases for the next six months. With the rest, a first in first out rule applies. Everything you pay in comes off the amount transferred first, rather than new purchases which are subject to the usual rates of interest.

"If you pay £100 off your card at the end of January, that doesn't come off the amount you spent in January, but off the transferred amount you thought you were getting a nil rate on for six months."

Updated: 10:08 Thursday, January 29, 2004