Credit Card Rate Report

CreditCards.com: Weekly Credit Card Rate Report

AUSTIN, Texas, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The streak is over.

The national average interest rate on new credit card offers was unchanged last week, according to the CreditCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report. It's the first time in six weeks that the rate hadn't risen.

The average is composed of about 95 of the most popular credit cards in the country, including cards from dozens of leading U.S. issuers and representing every card category listed below. Introductory (teaser) rates are not included in the calculation. Among the nine card categories, average annual percentage rates (APRs) increased in one, fell in two and were unchanged in six.      

Rates for card categories tracked by CreditCards.com are listed below:

Credit Card Rate Averages
	Avg. APR	Last week	6 months ago
National Average	14.43%	14.43%	12.87%
Low Interest	12.18%	12.04%	11.97%
Cash Back	12.63%	12.63%	12.49%
Balance Transfer	12.93%	12.93%	12.03%
Business	12.96%	12.96%	10.74%
Student	13.96%	13.96%	14.51%
Airline	14.30%	14.46%	13.70%
Reward	14.73%	14.75%	13.09%
Instant Approval	15.99%	15.99%	12.99%
Bad Credit	20.32%	20.32%	13.74%
Source: CreditCards.com
Updated: 7-7-10

The run of increases was the longest since 2007, when rates rose for seven straight weeks. But an unchanged national average doesn't mean that issuers weren't making moves. Discover lowered the standard purchase APR for two cards -- its Escape and Miles cards. Citi raised the lower end of the range of its Platinum Select MasterCard two percentage points, and Chase changed its Priority Club Visa from a single 13.24 percent APR to a range of 13.24 percent to 17.24 percent.

The CreditCards.com credit card rate survey is conducted weekly, using offer data from the leading U.S. card issuers' Web sites. Introductory offer periods and regular interest rates will vary with applicants' credit quality and issuer risk-based pricing policies.

About CreditCards.com

CreditCards.com is the leading online credit card marketplace connecting consumers with multiple credit card issuers, including several of the 10 largest in the United States, based on credit card transaction volume. CreditCards.com,http://www.creditcards.com, enables consumers to search for, compare and apply for credit cards and offers credit card issuers an online channel to acquire qualified applicants.  

NOTE TO EDITORS: The information in this release is available for print or broadcast with attribution to CreditCards.com.

SOURCE CreditCards.com