With several major banks announcing bumps in credit card rates to coincide with the bump in Federal interest rates, credit card deals may soon be harder to find. Nevertheless, in our new weekly feature, Credit Card Monitor, we find that time hasn’t yet run out on discovering attractive rates. For consumers with good credit ratings, our survey of top-level credit cards found an average 9.86% APR, with levels as low as 6.0%. “Top-level” cards in our survey include Platinum or similarly designated cards that do not offer reward programs but instead offer lower interest rates to eligible cardholders. Reward cards in our survey averaged an 11.26% APR, with rates as low as 7.9%.

Top-level business credit cards averaged a 10.15% APR this week, with rates as low as 7.99%. Reward business cards came in at an average of 13.29%, including at least one card offering rewards and a 7.99% interest rate. Thanks to their lack of credit history, students interested in gaining credit get the least attractive rates, with a 14.93% average,although we did find a single 9.9% offer.

The above information includes an average of the lowest published credit card rates from at least 10 credit card offers in each category. Consumers or businesses with good credit can expect to find cards at these rates, while those with shakier credit histories will be offered higher APRs. Credit Card Monitor will track credit card rates each week.

Published 09/23/05 (Modified 05/07/12)