Know Your Credit Cards

Courtesy of Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune

A survey of 109 credit cards, and the 45 companies that issue them, by nonprofit group Consumer Action found that:

• All of the companies charge late fees. All are flat fees; the most common is $29, but one bank card charges $35.
• Two-thirds of the companies will raise the interest rate on your card if you pay late. Penalty rates range from 14.5 percent to 30 percent.
• All but four of the 45 companies charge transaction fees for cash advances. Half charge 3 percent of the amount withdrawn.
• Sixty percent of the companies have higher interest rates--ranging from 18.9 percent to 26.49 percent--for cash withdrawals than they do for purchases.
• Most cards have no annual fees. Those that do have fees ranging from $12 to $98.
• Interest rates on all cards averaged 15.16 percent, only slightly higher than a year ago. The prevailing low rate was 9.99 percent, compared with 7.99 percent in last year's survey.

For further information on credit cards:

• Web sites for additional information include www.creditcardfreedom.com and www.cardweb.com.
• Further information on Consumer Action's survey can be found at www.consumer-action.org .

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)