MBNA is refunding €18 million in interest charges to its credit card customers.

The finance company says it has identified an error in how interest was described to customers in its terms and conditions in some circumstances.

Hundreds of thousands of people may have been affected.

The Financial Regulator has been informed and customers can expect refunds by March next year.

President of MBNA Ireland Card Services is Will Curley.

“We want to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience this error may cause” he said.

“During an internal review, we self-identified an error in the wording of our terms and conditions that will result in most customers receiving a rebate of approximately €38 – which will total approximately €18 million” he added.