Credit Cards
Rates: 13.56 percent (standard fixed); 10.73 percent (standard variable)Variable rates declined again this week, while fixed rates remained flat. For all fixed-rate cards, the average interest rate on purchases was 12.33 percent, while the mean variable APR fell 2 basis points to 10.66 percent. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Standard cards followed the same rate trend. The average fixed rate kept to 13.56 percent for the third consecutive week and the variable rate slipped to 10.73 percent, down from 10.75 last week.
Despite rising unemployment and widespread credit limit reductions, credit scores aren't plummeting. FICO scores are holding steady, and TransRisk scores are even improving for some customers of Credit Karma, a free credit score-tracking service for consumers. According to the company’s February score trend data, 39 percent of its users saw their scores rise, and the average score for this group climbed to 675 from 674 in January. TransRisk scores are proprietary scores from credit-reporting agency TransUnion, and range from 100 to 900, where a higher number indicates lower credit risk.
You can find your best credit card deal -- by type -- at Bankrate's interactive tool.
-- Leslie McFadden