Credit Cards
- 14.02% (all fixed)
- 14.56% (all variable)
The average annual percentage rate for fixed-rate credit cards jumped 21 basis points to 14.02 percent from 13.81 percent, where it had been since the beginning of March. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 percentage point. The increase is attributed to a credit union changing the APR on one of its credit cards.
The average APR for variable-rate credit cards remained at 14.56 percent for the third straight week, according to Bankrate's latest survey of interest rates.
British researchers found cracks in the nearly counterfeit-proof EMV chip card technology. EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa. EMV cards have embedded microchips that encrypt transaction data uniquely every time the card is used. That's supposed to make it more difficult for thieves to duplicate a credit card. However, the researchers found that some ATMs and payment terminals made it easy for fraudsters to predict authentication numbers and steal card data.