Credit cards are quickly becoming a global industry. Although America leads the world in credit use (in 2003, US credit use was larger than the rest of the world combined), credit cards are becoming increasingly popular around the globe Let’s compare the interest rates charges on credit cards in different countries.
- America – The average us credit card APR is around 12%. Most credit card interest rates range from 10-20% APR, although some cards go as high as 30% for borrowers with bad credit.
- Canada - Average Canadian credit cards have interest rates around 19% APR. Gas and store card rates are higher, around 28%.
- China – Chinese credit card interest rates are capped at 18.25% a year. Although, according to this Bloomberg article few Chinese ever carry a balance on their cards.
- Brazil – Brazil is often mentioned as having the highest interest rates in the world. Some credit card rates are as high as 10% per month, or 120% APR.
- England – Most credit cards offer interest rates around 15%. Some cards go as high as 70% APR for borrowers with bad credit.
- India – Credit card rates as low as 2.85% are offered by American Express. Most credit card rates are around 2.95%. Some cards in India even include airplane hijacking insurance.
- Mexico – Citigroup charges 40% interest on a standard credit card in Mexico. Mexican car loans usually have a 15% APR and home loans have an 11% APR.
America’s credit card rates are fairly low on the international scale. India’s APR’s appear to be the lowest while Brazil has the highest credit card interest rates.
Do you know of any international credit card rates we can add to this list? How about Australian credit cards? Italian credit cards? Share your feedback and rate tips in the comments section below.
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Those interest rates are PER MONTH! Certainly not low!
Hello,
As of 12/2010 the Brazilian credit card interest rate is 13% – PER MONTH.
At least for the Itau Bank credit card my wife has. Imagine, 156% yearly interest rate without compounding and she pays US$ 90/year for the privilege of having this card. Itau should be ashamed. I have found that most Brazilians I talk to (at our local bzn restaurant) have no idea what 13%/month actually means in monetary terms and they all have credit cards.
The populace in Brazil is financially very unsophisticated .