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Credit card interest rates have slowly but surely been nudging up this year despite the stable rate environment. The rate increase is driven largely by the punitive rate policies of many of the nation's top issuers, including MBNA which now charges rates as high as 24.98%. APRs bottomed out in December of last year at 14.32% but have increased in 14.71% since then. Average rate for variable-rate cards now stands at 14.89% versus 14.57% for fixed-rate cards.
AVERAGE CREDIT CARD INTEREST RATES
Dec 00: 16.57% Jan 02: 14.33%
Jan 01: 16.49% Feb 02: 14.38%
Feb 01: 16.31% Mar 02: 14.42%
Mar 01: 16.16% Apr 02: 14.54%
Apr 01: 15.91% May 02: 14.60%
May 01: 15.83% Jun 02: 14.62%
Jun 01: 15.43% Jul 02: 14.65%
Jul 01: 15.02% Aug 02: 14.70%
Aug 01: 14.98% Sep 02: 14.71%
Sep 01: 14.81%
Oct 01: 14.48%
Nov 01: 14.41%
Dec 01: 14.32%
Source: CardData (www.carddata.com)
