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Top Level Credit Card Rates Remain Below 10 Percent

by Peter Andrew
Top Level Credit Card Rates Remain Below 10 Percent

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.

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.

Disclaimer:The information in this article is believed to be accurate as of the date it was written. Please keep in mind that credit card offers change frequently. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information in this article. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. See the online credit card application for full terms and conditions on offers and rewards. Please verify all terms and conditions of any credit card prior to applying.

This content is not provided by any company mentioned in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed here are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any such company. CardRatings.com does not review every company or every offer available on the market.

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