Scottsdale, AZ -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/3/2006 -- Credit Card Resource released an end-of-year study this week that revealed many of its customers actively use more than one credit card on a regular basis, and that doing so can cause confusion when making decisions about repayment methods.
“The primary source of confusion seems to be tied to annual percentage rates,” said Aaron Blumenthal of Credit Card Resource. “Specifically, people are confused about which credit cards should get top repayment priority and what effects balance transfers can have on the overall balance of a credit card. Many people don’t realize that interest rates can vary between purchase and balance transfer transactions, so the end result is a bill that doesn’t make much sense to the consumer.”
The study states that the terms and conditions of any credit card application or agreement contains the specifics about annual percentage rates, and that the majority of customers surveyed did not read the agreement in its entirety. Moreover, the study also shows consumers assumed that rates tied to purchases also applied to balance transfers, which is often not the case.
“Issuing banks often emphasize the lower of the two interest rates in an effort to attract consumers to the card they’re promoting at that particular period in time. Generally, they leave it up to the consumer to determine which part of the card’s operation the interest rate applies to. It’s not uncommon for a bank to promote, say, an 11% interest rate on a credit card and to have that rate apply only to the balance transfer portion of the consumer’s balance. The interest rate for actual purchases could be as high as 16%, but that information if only disclosed in the fine print of the terms and conditions agreement.”
Credit Card Resource breaks down the terms and conditions of every credit card on their website, including the difference between balance transfer and actual purchase interest rates. Visit Credit Card Resource at http://www.creditcardresource.net for more information about credit cards.