With Americans carrying more than $900 billion in revolving -- or credit card -- debt according to the Federal Reserve many are hoping the half-point evaluate cut made by the Fed in September ordain bring down the annual percentage rate they pay on their credit cards."displace arouse rates will mouth filtering through to cardholders as soon as next month's statement," says Greg McBride senior financial analyst at Bankrate. "But don't be surprised if it takes as desire as three months before you see that lower rate as issuers are quick to displace the initiate on an increase but often draw their feet on a decrease."Ken Paterson director of the credit advisory group at Mercator Advisory Group concurs: "For credit card consumers who have variable-rate cards that reprice quickly they'll see an immediate benefit. Without immediate repricing though the change in rates is probably down the road."Currently the add up APR on a standard fixed-rate card is 13.48 percent and the add up variable rate is 14.57 percent according to Bankrate's Interest Rate Roundup. Those rates have fluctuated within 50 basis points of those numbers for nearly a year. Credit card arouse rates follow the prime rate rising or falling as it changes. Cardholders can find out when their card issuer reprices cards by looking at the terms and conditions of their cardholder agreement. Most cards are priced at 1 percent above the prime evaluate published in The Wall Street Journal. (The terms and conditions for all cards are available online at the issuers' Web sites.) That same disclosure should tell you when they adjust the rates. Capital One's No-Hassle Rewards card for example reprices quarterly while Chase and Citibank reprice monthly. How do card issuers calculate rates? Here's what we open in the terms and conditions on the companies' Web sites. Credit scores affect ratesDespite a rate cut not every cardholder ordain necessarily see a reduction in their APR."Most companies have moved to risk-based pricing," says Paterson which means issuers assign an interest evaluate based on a consumer's credit advance and credit history. They be for the length of the credit history the percentage of total credit in use the types of credit you undergo (credit card owe auto) and how many new accounts you've opened."Typically populate who are flipping cards to get a better evaluate can get it sometimes but changing cards frequently can negatively alter their credit score," says Paterson.
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http://creditcardhub.blogspot.com/2007/10/credit-card-rates-may-dip-for-some_18.html
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