Heading Into Holiday Season, Credit Card Rates Rise Again

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Heading Into Holiday

Season, Credit Card Rates Rise Again

With the

holiday shopping season unofficially opening Friday, consumer

credit card rates rose for the seventh straight week, according

to the IndexCreditCards.com weekly Credit Card Monitor.

"Top-level"

consumer credit cards averaged a 9.91% Annual Percentage Rate

(APR), up from 9.87% last week and from 9.51% seven weeks ago.

IndexCreditCards.com uses "top-level" to describe Platinum or

similarly designated credit cards that generally offer the lowest

interest rates to eligible cardholders.

Consumer

reward credit cards offered an average 11.23% APR, up from 11.19%

last week and 10.75% seven weeks ago.

Student credit card rates increased to an average 14.98%, up

from 14.96% last week and 14.72% seven weeks ago.

"While

rates are still historically low, the trend is continuing upward,"

says Adam Jusko, Research Director for IndexCreditCards.com.

"Of course the worst time to see any rate increase is around

the holidays, when people are most likely to revolve balances

instead of immediately paying for all those gifts."

Business credit card rates held steady this week, at an average

9.99% APR for top-level business cards and an average 11.74%

for business reward cards.

"As

always, these averages are based on the lowest rates published

by the card issuers," says Jusko. "If you don't have excellent

credit, add 2% to estimate the rate you would likely receive.

If your credit is poor, count on even higher rates."

Financial institutions represented in the survey include Advanta,

American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi,

Discover, MBNA, National City, Providian, Pulaski Bank, U.S.

Bank, Wachovia, Wells Fargo and more.

 

Published 11/22/05 (Modified 05/07/12)