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Absolutely not! While the average annual percentage credit card rates continue to hover in a narrow 13% to 17% range, there is typically a 30 point spread in the marketplace. That means that your credit card company could be charging you anywhere from 0% interest to 30% interest, each month!

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The recent economic recession and global banking crisis have forced banks and other credit card issuers to dramatically revise their credit policies in the last few years. Competitive fixed interest rate credit cards have all but disappeared, to be replaced by variable rate cards.

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When credit card holders are unable to pay their entire balance in full, they begin to incur interest on all of their purchases. As unsecured loans, credit card interest rates will never be as low as a secured loan such as a mortgage. Nevertheless, there are three things that cardholders can do to lower their interest rates.

Negotiate

Banks do not advertise the fact that, in some cases, they are willing to negotiate lower interest rates with their cardholders. To attempt to receive a lower rate, customers should contact their card issuer and ask to speak to a manager. Once the cardholder has expressed their dissatisfaction with the current interest rate, customers can inform the representative that they are considering moving their balance to a different bank that is offering a 0% promotional balance transfer.

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For right now it seems most credit card companies are holding on their interest rates. The interest rates are fairly high on most credit cards as is, but it does not look like they are increasing the average or typical rate at the moment. The first week of 2011 has shown interest rates on credit cards at 12.589 per cent. This is unchanged from the week prior and the end of 2010. The question is, how can you obtain such a low rate?

A lot of the credit cards you see on comparison sites are in at 11.9 per cent at the very least in order to tempt you towards getting the card. However, the average credit card rate is not always what one is awarded. According to recent studies many have high debts to income ratio, which means 11.9 per cent or 12.5 per cent is often out of the question.

Credit cards are always going to be based on risk regarding credit worthiness, history, and scores.

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By now, you’ve probably seen or heard that mortgage rates are at or near record lows.

While this is true, it doesn’t mean everyone out there qualifies for a record low mortgage rate.

The low, low mortgage rates you see advertised on television and elsewhere always assume you have an excellent credit score.

In other words, 720 and above, or even 760 and above in some cases.

I recently came across a credit score table from Fico®, the inventors of the Fico score, which illustrates the difference in mortgage rate at different credit scoring levels.

As you can see, a credit score between 760-850 qualifies for the lowest rate, which is a rather arbitrary 3.954% APR (I say arbitrary because a bunch of other factors affect mortgage rates as well).

But we can still pull some value out of this table by looking at the other credit scores and associated mortgage rates.

For example, if your credit score is 620 (what I consider a bad credit score), your mortgage rate shoots up to 5.543%.

That’s more than one-and-a-half percentage points – on a $300,000 loan amount, the difference in monthly payment is nearly $300!

So always be sure to check your credit report months before even thinking of applying for a mortgage to avoid any unexpected surprises and unnecessary rate increases.

Remember, the difference between a good credit score and a bad credit score could be enough to kill your hopes of getting a mortgage altogether!

Tip: How to raise your credit score.

Credit card interest rates are affected by four different factors. These are credit rating, debt to income ratio, employment history and repayment history. Interest rates are normally connected with the US Prime Rate, the common national rate standard provided by the Federal Reserve Board or FRB. Your interest is being computed at the end of a billing statement period. This varies from one credit card holder to another. This will then be charged to you at the last day of your statement period. If you are good in managing credit, your credit card interest rates will be definitely lower.

Credit card companies look into your financial background when computing for interest rates. If you are in the habit of paying late, your interest rate might be increased. However, for some, they wonder why their banks increase rates on bills even if they are paying on time always. This may be because their credit scores fell in the past few months because of various reasons.

You are advised to take credit management seminars to know more about how debts and credit card interest rates work.

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