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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted at 7:55 a.m., Monday, December 22, 2008

Interest rates fall for popular credit card types

Associated Press

NEW YORK — The average annual interest rates charged on popular types of credit cards fell last week, according to Bankrate.com.

For low-interest cards, which have rates below the national average but are often offered only to customers with strong credit histories, the average APR slipped to 11.42 percent, from 11.45 percent the week before.

Cash back cards, which feature cash or other reward incentives and generally require a good-to-excellent credit rating for approval, saw their average APR fall to 13.57 percent, from 13.66 percent last week.

For balance transfer cards, which allow consumers to consolidate outstanding debt from one or more cards and sometimes include a low introductory rate, the average annual percentage rate dropped to 13.07 percent, from 13.16 percent the week before.

Overall, the average APR charged for all variable-rate cards tracked by Bankrate was 11.04 percent, from 11.07 percent the previous week.

Bankrate surveys the 10 largest banks and thrifts in the 10 largest markets in the U.S. to determine its averages.