Credit Cards
Rates: 13.46 percent (standard fixed); 11.41 percent (standard variable)Average credit card interest rates remained unchanged for the third consecutive week. The average fixed rate for purchases stuck to 12.34 percent and the mean variable rate held at 11.37 percent.
The average fixed rate for standard cards rested at 13.46 percent and standard variable rates stood at 11.41 percent.
Issuers are sending more premium credit card offers in the mail, according to new research from Mintel Comperemedia, a direct mail tracking service. The firm found that credit card issuers mailed 28 percent more offers for premium cards -- defined as MasterCard World or Visa Signature cards -- for the second quarter of 2009 than they did last quarter. Overall, the volume of credit card solicitations declined by 8 percent during the same period. A press release from Mintel also noted new premium cards that launched during the recession: Chase Sapphire, the Visa Black Card and the American Express Hilton HHonors Surpass Card.
You can find your best credit card deal -- by type -- at Bankrate's interactive tool.
-- Leslie McFadden