Interest rate roundup
credit cards
National credit card rate averages

Here's a look at the state of interest rates on five common consumer banking products and the latest rates from Bankrate.com's weekly national survey of large banks and thrifts conducted Nov. 10, 2009.

Credit Cards

Rates: 13.46 percent (standard fixed); 11.48 percent (standard variable)

No change in average interest rates on credit cards this week. The mean fixed-APR for all cards remained 12.31 percent and the average variable rate stayed at 11.68 percent.

The average fixed rate for purchases on standard cards kept to 13.46 percent, and standard-variable rates averaged 11.48 percent.

About 75 percent of credit card-issuing banks say they don't expect to be compliant with the Credit CARD Act of 2009 until February 2010, according to the October 2009 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey.

Many banks still expect to tighten credit-card lending to prime and subprime borrowers as a result of the law. About 50 percent of banks expected to cut the credit limits and raise interest rate spreads for prime borrowers, and 40 percent said they anticipated increasing annual fees for these low-risk consumers. Around 75 percent of banks indicated they are likely to raise rate spreads for subprime borrowers and 60 percent said they expected to reduce their credit limits. About 45 percent of banks expected to hike annual fees for nonprime borrowers.

About 30 percent of respondents anticipated using more variable interest-rate cards and fewer fixed-rate cards.

You can find your best credit card deal -- by type -- at Bankrate's interactive tool.

See all credit card interest rate stories.

-- Leslie McFadden

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Compare Credit Card Rates



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Credit Card Averages
Product Rate
Balance Transfer Cards 14.91%
Cash Back Cards 15.00%
All Variable 13.63%
Low Interest Cards 9.81%
Compare rates:  
credit cards
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