Credit Cards
Rates: 13.56 percent (standard fixed); 10.75 percent (standard variable)Variable interest rates for credit cards sank this week but fixed rates stayed put. For all cards, the average fixed rate remained at 12.33 percent. The variable rate dropped to 10.68 percent, down 7 basis points. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Standard-fixed rates also stagnated, at 13.56 percent. Variable rates fell 5 basis points to 10.75 percent.
The average charge-off rate, or debts that banks don't expect to collect, climbed to 7.1 percent in January, up from 4.6 percent a year ago, according to Bloomberg. Analysts predict the average will rise to somewhere between 9 and 10 percent this year, for a grand total of $70 to $75 billion in losses for 2009.
You can find your best credit card deal -- by type -- at Bankrate's interactive tool.
-- Leslie McFadden