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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Monday, September 12, 2022

Banksters raise credit card interest rates to the highest on record




(Zerohedge)  While big money center banks refuse to even consider lifting the rate on their savings accounts, they have no such qualms when it comes to how much they charge on credit cards, and according to Bankrate.com's latest survey, the average credit card rate is now 18.03%, the highest on record since January 1996.

According to Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate, “the average credit card rate is now a record-high 18.03%, surpassing the previous record of 17.87% which was set in April 2019. And Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has made it clear that the Fed is not done raising rates – not by a long shot. According to the CME FedWatch tool, there’s a strong likelihood the Fed will implement another 75-basis point hike later this month, with smaller increases projected for November and December. The best guess, according to investors, is that rates will rise another 150 basis points by the end of the year.”



“Almost all credit cards have variable rates which track the Prime Rate, which is typically three percentage points higher than the federal funds rate which is set by the Federal Reserve. So there’s a direct pass-through from the Fed’s actions to credit cardholders. Card issuers tack a profit margin onto the Prime Rate, often something like 12% or 13%. Rate hikes generally affect new and existing balances, so most credit cardholders are currently facing rates that are 225 basis points higher than they were just six months ago."

Meanwhile, the average maximum APR on a brand-new card offer has also climbed sharply in recent months, increasing most recently to 25.59 percent, according to CreditCards.com data. As a result, many new cardholders are currently being assigned APRs well above 20 percent.

CreditCards.com only considers a card’s lowest possible interest rate when calculating the national average. However, most credit card offers advertise a wide range of possible APRs — particularly on general market and rewards cards that appeal to a broad audience. Although some applicants with the very highest credit scores may be assigned a card’s lowest rate, many others are instead assigned either a card’s maximum possible interest rate or an APR that falls directly in the middle of the two extremes.

Currently, the average median card APR is 21.88 percent, according to CreditCards.com data.

Zerohedge.com




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