Annual percent rates for platinum, intro purchase, and reward cards ease off long-term averages. July 1, 2004: 5:32 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Credit card interest rates slipped the week ended June 29, with the average annual percentage rate, or APR, for platinum cards easing to 10.83 percent from its 11.06 percent average for the month.
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"A few large issuers have lowered some of their rates, which in turn, has affected the local banks for whom the larger issuers process the cards," said Michelle Grabow, credit card research manager at Informa Research Services, Inc.
" I expect the declines to be very short-lived due to the Federal Reserve rate increase. We should start to see a gradual increase in rates over the next few months."
Interest rates on platinum credit cards ranged from a low of 4.00 percent to a high of 19.99 percent for the week, according to Informa.
Rates for introductory purchase credit cards slipped to 2.23 percent, snapping the 2.75 percent interest rate they clung to over the past month. For the week, rates ranged from zero percent to 9.9 percent.
Reward, or incentive-based, credit cards pulled back to a 11.79 percent average with a range of 5.9 percent to 16.9 percent. Rates held steady at 12.07 percent over the past month.
Below are APRs as well as rates for credit card balance transfers from the top five largest issuers. You can compare rates from more institutions with the rate-search tool above.
Credit Cards: Top 5 National Issuers* As of June 29, 2004
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