Credit Cards
- 13.36% (all fixed)
- 14.42% (all variable)
For the fourth consecutive week, credit card rates stayed steady in Bankrate's latest survey of interest rates. The average APR for variable-rate credit cards remained at 14.42 percent. The fixed rate stood at 13.36 percent, where it has been all year.
An Equifax report on Friday showed that banks issued 8.6 million credit cards in the first quarter of this year. That marks a 26 percent increase, or 1.8 million more cards, compared with the same period in 2010. It also underscores a larger trend of easier access to credit as consumer risk improves. Banks even gave out 2.5 million cards to consumers with subprime, or blemished, credit during that period, up 62 percent from the year before.
-- Janna Herron