The extremely high interest rates that are associated with credit cards have led people to search for ways in order to find a little bit of relief from the enormous debt. This has driven a lot of people into researching bankruptcy, debt settlement and other options that would help get them out from under the burden of their credit card debt that is saturated with high interest rates.
There have been new laws passed that actually limit the amount of money that credit card companies are able to charge their customers in terms of fees. This means that there is a cap and limit on how many and how much you can be charged in terms of over the limit, past due, and late fees. While this has been helpful they did not put a cap on the interest rates that could be charged. This is why the credit card companies have increased their interest rates in order to make up for the money that they are no longer able to charge in fees.
The average interest rate in the past year came in at around 14.78%, which is the highest it has ever been. This average interest rate is not what people with low credit scores will be paying. Keep in mind that if you have a credit score lower than 600 and are able to find a credit card company that will give you a card you will most likely pay interest rates that could easily be triple that.
While laws have been past limiting the fees there is little hope for laws to be passed in order to limit the amount of interest that is able to be charged. The real reason that there will most likely not be a law passed is that a good chunk of the support that the congressional lobbyist receives is from credit card companies and the like.
The sad truth is that unless some law is passed limiting the amount of money that can be received in support by large corporations such as credit card companies than there will most likely never be a law passed limiting the interest rates. Our Congress needs financial support, and sadly a lot of it comes directly from those who choose to charge high interest rates in order to make sure that they have the money to support them.
All in all, it is important for you as the consumer to know what your interest rate is on your credit card.