Credit Cards
Rates: 13.46 percent (standard fixed); 11.41 percent (standard variable)Average credit card interest rates on purchases has remained flat for the past five weeks. The mean APR for all fixed-rate cards stood at 12.34 percent, and the average variable rate clung to 11.37 percent.
The average fixed-rate for standard cards held at 13.46 percent, and standard-variable rates stayed at 11.41 percent.
Last week, two congressmen introduced legislation that would push the implementation date for the remainder of the CARD Act provisions to Dec. 1. Most of the rules are set to go into effect on Feb. 22, 2010, followed by a final batch Aug. 22.
In addition, the Federal Reserve Board proposed rules Tuesday that would implement the provisions in the CARD Act that take hold in February. The Federal Reserve adopted final regulations addressing unfair credit card practices in December 2008, but is changing those rules to include provisions in the CARD Act, such as fee limits for subprime cards and a requirement that issuers obtain consent before fees on overlimit transactions are imposed.
The public can comment on the proposed amendments as soon as they publish to the Federal Register. Consumers will then have 30 days to speak their mind.
You can find your best credit card deal -- by type -- at Bankrate's interactive tool.
-- Leslie McFadden