Researchers at MoneySupermarket.com have unearthed 110 charges and fees on basic financial transactions that customers may be liable for.

In the UK, penalties hidden in the small print can add up to more than £8 billion ($16 bn) in revenues for finance companies, credit cards and banks. And a similar situation may also exist in the USA.

The website looked at five common financial products : current accounts, mortgages, loans, credit cards and savings.

Mortgages, with arrangement, booking and valuation fees accounted for 46 of the total. These have risen to around £1000 ($2000) in the past year.

Normal bank accounts can levy 32 penalty charges, while credit cards account for 16 fees. Loans attract up to 11 charges.

Stuart Glendinning, Managing Director of the website, said : “It is unbelievable that five financial products can be the root of so much penalty pain.”

Nick Gardner, a director at Chase de Vere, the mortgage advisers, said the range of fees embedded in home loans is “cunning and completely unacceptable. The headline rates may be coming down, but the number and scale of fees have risen enormously.”

Maybe it’s time to get that old magnifying glass down from the attic.