Credit card consumers are being encouraged to shop around for credit card deals after new figures showed that the average credit card rate was at its highest level in more than eight years.

According to moneysupermarket.com the average credit card rate hit 16.69% last month which is the highest level since February 2002 and is more than 33 times the Bank of England base rate, which has been fixed at 0.5% for more than a year.

Despite the base rate remaining low many of the major credit card issuers have continued to hike up their average percentage rates (APR) including MBNA, Barclaycard and Egg.

According to the research by the consumer website the highest credit card rates belong to RBS Classic, Thomas Cook and Ryanair credit cards which currently have an average APR of 19.9%

The average rate for savings on the other hand has seen a decline. The Head of Banking for moneysupermarket.com, Kevin Mountford, said: “Consumers will be confused by the fact the base rate is flat while savings rates are going down and there are increases in loan charges.

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I have just one question. Why? Bad credit loans to get out of credit card debt is one of the most insane things I have ever heard, but it is out there and there are actually many people that think this is the answer. If you are having debt problems, why would you want another loan anyway? It is basically moving the money from one place to the other without making any progress.

The bottom line on bad credit is you are not going to be able to get a loan, unless it is a payday loan and those are nothing but trouble. They are supposed to be short term and the fees on them are outrageous. In the state I live in most of these places have gone out of business, because the state limits them to an interest rate of 28% a year instead of the 1000+% they were previously allowed to charge.

Any loan that you get today to consolidate your debt will be secured with your home. This is essentially a mortgage and the mortgage industry is not going to be willing to loan to individuals with bad credit, especially in light of events that have occurred in the past few years with subprime mortgages.

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