Guide to Low Interest Rate Credit Cards
If you are looking for a credit card with a low rate, the rate you get will depend on your credit. Having said that, here is a list of credit cards with the lowest rates.
Recommended Low Interest Credit Card
The Citi® Platinum Select® MasterCard® allows you to get one of the lowest rates around if your credit is good enough. The APR is between 11.99% to 21.99% (variable rate). Furthermore, you get 0% Intro APR* deal on balance transfers for 21 months and 0% Intro APR* on purchases for 18 months. If you shop online a lot, this card has a unique feature whereby you are given a separately generated credit card number just for online use. This is another step to preventing fraud online.
The Discover® More® Card is a great cash back credit card that gives cardholders a rate between 10.99% and 20.99% (variable)*. Furthermore, you also get a 0% Intro APR on Balance Transfers* for 15 months. The things I really like about this card is that while you want only use a balance transfer card simply for a balance transfer, with this card, you would actually want to keep it because you can earn lots of cash rebates with this card. Read our full review of the Discover More Card.
The Miles by Discover® Card has an APR* of 10.99% to 16.99%(variable rate)*. This is a great travel credit card where you can use points for any travel related expense with any travel agent.
The Slate(SM) from Chase Card has a low rate and comes with a 0% introductory APR* offer for up to 15 months for balance transfers and purchases. You can get a rate between 11.99% to 21.99% (variable rate*). This is a unique card because Chase allows to choose which items you "technically" want to pay in full each month even though you may still carry a balance. The items that you have chosen to "pay in full" will not incur finance charges even if you are still carrying a balance (unlike all other cards). Hence, as you work your way towards paying down your credit card balance, you will incur less finance charges than other typical cards.
The Discover® Motiva Card also has low interest rate between 10.99% and 20.99% (variable)*. The key feature of this card (which no other card has) is that if you pay your bills fully for 6 billing cycle, you get a pay on time bonus that is equal to a months' interest. While we always advocate paying in full, this is a great card for carry a balance. It also comes with a 0% introductory APR* for balance transfers for 15 months*. The one advantage Discover has over most other low rate cards is that they give you a 25 days of grace period versus 20 days for most other cards, including the ones we highlight below. Discover also gives you a separate credit card number to shop online for extra security.
You might also be interested in the following articles
How to Choose a Low Interest Credit Card?
This post highlight some pitfalls to avoid when you are looking for a low rate card (for those who carry a balance).
How the 2-cycle average daily balance method affects your finance charges?
Find out how the various methods of computing monthly balances can affect your finance charges. Depending on your spending habits or whether you are in the process of reducing your credit card debt, understanding this will help you choose the right credit card.
What is your real effective interest rate on your credit card?
Most do not realize that the apr is not the true interest rate you are paying on your loans or credit card balances. The real effective rate depends on whether one's credit card uses the "monthly periodic rate" or the "daily periodic rate" to calculate finance charges. Find out how this work.
