Credit Card Plans

Survey on Credit Card Plans

Once a year, the American Federal Reserve Board conducts poll on the different terms that credit card plans have. The purpose of the survey is to give consumers and merchants the chance to have a credible and dependable evaluation of what financial institutions, banks and credit card companies offer. The 2007 Survey covered major credit card issuers of the country. The content of the survey is dated July of 2007, therefore, it is imperative to contact a credit card company or a finance expert regarding updated information on credit card plans.

According to the Federal Reserve Board, there are also other credit card issuers that requested the agency to include them in the credit card plans survey. To help credit card holders to better understand the terms used in the survey, there is a glossary. For the availability codes, N stands for Nationality, R stands for that plans are available in selected areas or States, and the there is the state abbreviation which means that it's only available for this site. For the Type of Pricing, F stands for fixed, V stands for Variable and T stands for Tiered which means that the displayed rates are applicable only to the balance tiers' lowest.

The index column on the credit card plans survey refers to the interest rates on the variable rated plans. 1 is equivalent to prime rate. 2 for 1 month bill Treasury rate. 3 for 3 month rate, 4 for 6 month rate, 5 for one year treasury rate, 6 for rate of Federal Funds, 7 stands for cost of the funds to the card provider, 8 means discount rate for Federal Reserve, 9 is other and 0 is not applicable.

For the other features of the survey, the figures indicated are numbers 1 to 10 and the letters N.R. Indicated in the other features column are the features that card users can add or avail of. 1 means purchase rebates, 2 for extra manufacturer warranty, 3 for purchase security, 4 for accident travel insurance, 5 for travel discounts, 6 for auto rent insurance, 7 for non travel services and goods, 8 for card registration, 9 for intro rate reduction,. 10 for not specified and N.R. for not reported.

This year the Credit One Bank, National Association topped the credit card plans survey with an annual percentage rate of 23.90. This was followed then by First Interstate Bank with 20.25 APR. And third is the World Financial Network National Bank with 20.24 APR. To get the full details of the survey on credit card plans, visit the Federal Reserve website.