"According to Consumer Action (see above), a low interest rate is anywhere below 10% in today's market." http://www.moneysavingfreetips.com/l...dit-cards.html

any of you have below 10% apr cards? do you know which lenders offer these? and i bet you need a super high credit score to get these?

No not necessarily, for example you can get prepaid 0% cards with instant approval, there are some listed here
. Though pre-paying is counterintuitive to the whole idea of credit, it can help you rebuild your credit or get you a lower rate than some loans if you really have bad credit or in our case here in Canada where the bank rates are rising fast.

Goldie is right...prepaid credit cards are counter-intuitive...but the right thing to do. Another way to phrase this is "pay your full balance each month". Then the card's interest rate is immaterial.

This leads then to the obvious - don't get a card that has an annual fee.

So, in the end I think we just described a debit card, didn't we?

If you have yet to buy a house, then it would help your credit score to have an active credit card, but please - pay that balance off and the percent won't matter.

Another thought is to use the credit card companies against each other. Bank A offers you a 12% card. Wouldn't Bank B be jealous? Of course, so call and ask for a card that offers 11% or lower. In fact, call Bank A and ask for a lower one...it is amazing what you can get by asking. Why? Because Bank A realizes it won't get anything from you if you leave them.

If your balance is large enough that you can't be expected to pay it all off immediately you COULD consider those special offers for card balance transfers. They are really low...until the six months are up. If you watch carefully though, you could have the next credit card roll-over ready. It sort of depends on just how much time you are comfortable with spending on managing your finances. My point is that it can be done until you finally get the balance down to where the interest rate doesn't matter one bit because you pay it off monthly. Then it is more of convience card then a credit card. Won't that be nice?

Oh, they can be found. Generally the worse the introductory offer (in terms of period of zero percent interest), the better the rate after the introductory offer ends.

Isn't there a trade off there, though?

My parents were old-school. they grew up in the depression, and, even when they managed to build some wealth, always squeezed every dime till it hurt. Every month, they paid their credit cards off in full. What they learned was, that made them a customer lenders weren't very interested in. They never got low rate card offers; they never got interest rate reductions when they called and asked for them, etc.

I went to buy my first new car 20 years ago, and got turned down. Not because I had bad credit, but, because I had no credit. I'd absorbed the life lessons taught by my parents, and paid cash for everything.

I talked to a financial guy about it. He told me I needed to "exercise my credit" by opening a few credit cards, and using them. He told me just having the card wasn't enough, that you need to carry at least a small balance, which you make timely payments on. That makes you an attractive customer to lenders.

I opened two sub-prime cards with interest crushing rates. I used them a lot, putting pretty much all of my meals, gas, purchases, etc. on them, but paying each off every month, with the exception of a balance on each of 100.00, or so. I actually made two payments on each, per month, saving on interest, and, ensuring I'd never be late on a payment.

Within 6 months, I started getting offers in the mail for cards; 0 interest for long periods of time, great interest rates after that, no annual fees, etc. I picked the two best offers, transferred my balances, and closed out the sub-prime cards.

I also bought the new car I'd been wanting. Not only did I get instant approval on the loan, but, I shopped it a around, and found a better deal. My bank did the loan, at the lowest interest rate they offered.

I bought a house two years later, and again, shopped the loan, getting a great deal.

Now, I'm no financial guy, but, this strategy of "exercising my credit" sure seems to have worked well for me. Sure, I pay a few bucks per month on the 100.00 average balances I carry on my cards, but, I figure I've saved tens of thousands of dollars over the years on lower rates on the cards, car loans, and my home loan. Am I wrong? [/u]

“Top-level” consumer credit cards averaged a 9.51% Annual Percentage Rate (APR) in our weekly Credit Card Monitor survey. The lowest rate found for consumer credit cards without an annual fee was the Capital One PrimeLock card, offering a 6.00% APR.

you dont usually have to look for to find a 0% card, but thats generally just for a selected period.

just had a quick look on www.moneysupermarket.com/cards/ and it would seem that Barclycard an Capital One are offering rates below 10% - as you say though, a decent credit rating is usually required for such rates :?

That's the biggest problem with cards these days... the 0% APR or other low APR's are normally for a limited amount of time.

I know everyone wants something below 10% but there is a old saying that, "cheap has bad conditions". Now I didn't come across anything satisfied. But there is no harm in looking.

If you're hunting for a low interest credit card, there's more to it than spotting a low rate, even if you're savvy enough to look beyond the introductory rate. Luckily, no matter the state of the economy or your personal finances, credit card companies are competing for your business. If your credit score is merely average, you may still be able to get a good rate. That doesn't mean you qualify for the very lowest APR available, but a few simple steps can insure that you don't get fleeced. Most importantly, make sure to read—and understand—the fine print before you apply.

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