NOTE:

To offer our weekly summary of credit card rates, Credit

Card Monitor, in your publication or on your Web site, please

contact syndicate@indexcreditcards[dot]com.

 

?Top Level?

Credit Card Rates Remain Below 10 Percent

Rise in Interest

Rates Has Little Effect on Consumers and Small Businesses with

Good Credit

While

several banks raised rates on their variable interest credit

cards to coincide with the hike in federal interest rates, consumers

and small business owners with good credit can still find rates

averaging below ten percent.

?Top-level?

consumer credit cards averaged a 9.51% Annual Percentage Rate

(APR) in our weekly Credit Card Monitor survey. The lowest rate

found for consumer credit cards without an annual fee was the

Capital One PrimeLock card, offering a 6.00% APR.

?Top-level?

business credit cards averaged a 9.87% Annual Percentage Rate.

The lowest rate for business credit cards with no annual fee

was the Advanta Platinum BusinessCard, offering a 7.99% APR

and a program with travel or cash back rewards.

 

IndexCreditCards.com uses ?top-level” to describe Platinum or

similarly designated credit cards that generally offer the lowest

interest rates to eligible cardholders.

?These

averages are based on the best rates published by the credit

card issuers,? cautions Adam Jusko, Research Director for

IndexCreditCards.com. ?Consumers or businesses with excellent

credit can expect to find cards at these rates, but those with

shakier credit histories may be offered higher rates. If you

don?t have top quality credit, add 2% to these averages as a

rule of thumb in determining your probable rate.?

 

IndexCreditCards.com also surveys rates of reward credit cards

for consumers and businesses, as well as student credit cards.

Those averages include:

• Reward

cards for consumers averaged a 10.75% APR. The lowest APR

in this group belonged to the MBNA Rewards American Express

Card at 7.9%.

• Rewards

cards for businesses had an average interest rate of 11.31%.

The Advanta Platinum BusinessCard referenced above was the

lowest rate offered at 7.99%.

• Student

credit cards averaged a 14.72% APR, with the Wachovia Student

Visa offering the best APR at 9.99%. Student credit cards

generally offer higher interest rates than basic consumer

credit cards due to students? lack of credit history.

 

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, and Wells Fargo.

 

Published 10/04/05 (Modified 01/12/13)