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A low interest credit card makes large balances a little more manageable. If you carry a balance from one month to another, a low APR credit card could be a good choice for you. Browse the best low interest offers from our partners and compare introductory rates, ongoing rates, annual fees, and rewards to find the right card for you.
A low interest credit card makes large balances a little more manageable. If you carry a balance from one month to another, a low APR credit card could be a good choice for you. Browse the best low interest offers from our partners and compare introductory rates, ongoing rates, annual fees, and rewards to find the right card for you.
BONUSES AT U.S. SUPERMARKETS, U.S. GAS STATIONS
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Updated: January 20, 2020
Although it’s usually best to pay off the balance each month, sometimes that isn’t possible. That’s where low interest cards come in. If you want to look at how interest rates work on credit cards, look no further. We crunched the numbers on more than 800 credit cards to determine the best credit cards with low interest rates, and also included information on how to best utilize these cards. Whether you want to understand the mechanics of our best low interest cards or the difference between interest and APR, we can help. Here, we look at:
Wondering if you qualify? Want to understand how your score affects your interest rates? We look at that and more.
The Discover it Cash Back, like several other Discover cards, offers a super-low regular interest rate of 13.49%-24.49% variable APR, ideal for the occasional balance.
The ongoing rewards and the first-year bonus feature are unsurpassed. Add to that, there is no annual fee.
There’s no sign-up bonus on this card, and the purchase and travel benefits are nonexistent.
Not only does this card offer no annual fee, there is also no foreign transaction fee, ideal for international travel.
If you are looking for a starter travel rewards card, the VentureOne is a good one to pick. In addition, its sign-up bonus and ongoing rewards are just right for the occasional traveler.
While the Capital One VentureOne carries a 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months (then 13.49% – 23.49% variable), no such luck with balance transfers, making it an unfortunate choice if you want to pay off another card’s balance over time with no interest charges.
With the Discover it Balance Transfer, earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 a quarter after signing up for the rotating categories (then 1%), then earn double that amount at the end of your first year.
The Discover it Balance Transfer not only has the same great rewards of the Discover it Cash Back, it also has a robust 0% intro APR on balance transfers of 18 months (it’s 13.49%-24.49% variable after that).
The 0% intro APR offer on purchases is rock-bottom in length at only 6 months, and like the Discover it Cash Back, the travel and purchase benefits are nowhere to be seen.
Earn 0% intro APR for 15 months on not only purchases but also balance transfers (it’s 15.49%-25.49% variable after that) with the Quicksilver.
The Capital One Quicksilver does double duty as both a rewards card and a 0% intro APR card, making it a good option for the long haul.
While this card’s regular APR starts out below the national average, it’s not by much. Once the 0% intro APR offer ends after the first 15 months, the rate is 15.49%-25.49% variable. The Discover cards are much better in this realm.
With its rewards, low introductory interest offer on balance transfers and purchases, as well as a low regular low interest offer, it’s rather remarkable that the Cash Magnet has no annual fee.
Like the Blue Cash Everyday, the regular variable APR starts out low at 14.49%-25.49%. Also, the 1.5% back on purchases is quite convenient.
If you want to maximize your rewards depending on the purchase, another card may be a better choice due to this card’s flat rate offer.
Not only does the Blue Cash Everyday offer 0% intro APR on balance transfers for 15 months, it offers the same for purchases. It’s 14.49%-25.49% variable after that.
The ongoing rewards on this card are strong for a cash back card with no annual fee, and the regular variable APR starts out low at 14.49%-25.49%.
The welcome offer on the Blue Cash Everyday can be beaten by some competitors, and its tiered ongoing rewards might make you hesitate if you don’t want to think about which card to pull out for specific purchases.
In addition to the Cash Wise’s flat rewards rate, you can earn 1.8% cash rewards on qualified digital wallet purchases, like Apple Pay® or Google Pay™, during the first 12 months from opening your account.
This card is competitive in all sorts of ways, from the sign-up bonus to the ongoing rewards to the 0% intro offer on both purchases and qualifying balance transfers for 15 months (then 15.49% – 27.49% variable).
The balance transfer fee heads into the upper range of 5% (with a minimum of $5) if you make the transfer after 120 days from opening your account. It’s 3% or $5, whichever is greater, up to 120 days. Also, there’s a foreign transaction fee of 3%.
The 18-billing cycle intro (0% Introductory APR) offer on both purchases and balance transfers made in the first 60 days is excellent (then 14.49%-24.49% variable APR thereafter).
The BankAmericard offers no penalty APR and no annual fee. Also, access your FICO Score for free online or through the mobile app.
Unfortunately, the BankAmericard has no sign-up bonus or ongoing rewards, which makes this not a good option for a seeker of rewards.
The Propel offers 20,000 points after a $1,000 spend within the first 3 months of card membership, a solid offer for a low interest card with no annual fee.
Along with its solid 3X rewards rate on dining, travel and select streaming services, this no annual fee card offers a 0% intro APR on both new purchases and qualifying balance transfers for the first 12 months (15.49%-27.49% variable after that).
If you are really looking for a balance transfer or purchase offer with a long intro APR, this might not be the card for you.
The Double Cash’s ongoing rewards of 1% cash back when you spend, then another 1% when you pay for the purchase make it top-of-line among flat-rate cash back cards.
This card possesses one of the longest BT intro APR offers, with 0% for 18 months, then 15.49%-25.49% variable after that. This means balance transfers at 0% can be carried into mid-year 2021.
As superior as the Citi Double Cash’s rewards are, its lack of a 0% intro APR on purchases may give you pause. Also, there’s no sign-up bonus.
| Credit Card | Best For: | 0% Purchase APR Period | Regular APR | CreditCards.com Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discover it® Cash Back | Low interest | 14 months | 13.49% – 24.49% Variable | 3.7 / 5 |
| Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card | Low fees | 12 months | 13.49% – 23.49% Variable | 3.0 / 5 |
| Discover it® Balance Transfer | First year bonus | 6 months | 13.49%- 24.49% Variable | 4.5 / 5 |
| Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card | Low balance transfer fee | 15 months | 15.49% – 25.49% Variable | 3.3 / 5 |
| Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express | 0% intro APR | 15 months | 14.49% – 25.49% Variable | 3.6 / 5 |
| American Express Cash Magnet® Card | No annual fee | 15 months | 14.49% – 25.49% Variable | 4 / 5 |
| Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa® card | Digital wallet purchases | 15 months | 15.49% – 27.49% Variable | 2.8 / 5 |
| BankAmericard® credit card | Long balance transfer offer | 18 billing cycles | 14.49% – 24.49% Variable | 3.6 / 5 |
| Wells Fargo Propel American Express® card | Sign-up bonus | 12 months | 15.49% – 27.49% Variable | 3.5 / 5 |
| Citi® Double Cash Card | Cash back | N/A | 15.49% – 25.49% Variable | 1.4 / 5 |
Low interest credit cards analyzed: 869
Criteria used: Regular APR, intro APR, other rates and fees, rewards rates, rewards categories, redemption options, miscellaneous features and benefits, customer service, security, credit needed, ease of application
Low interest credit cards can be cards with intro offers for purchases and balance transfers, usually at 0%, or they can be simply a card with a low regular interest rate, as in the case of some of the Discover cards. Here, we answer your most common questions about interest rates and credit cards.
The national average interest rate for credit cards is currently 17.30%. When the Federal Reserve dropped interest rates 3 times in 2019, it prompted many card issuers to in turn drop their rates, bringing the national average to the current level. The average interest rate for retail store cards is 26.01%, our October 2019 study found, which is even higher than the average rate of cards that allow bad credit, which is currently 25.30%.
Typically, a low interest rate is considered a figure that is below the national average. According to CreditCards.com’s weekly rates survey, the low interest average is currently 14.10%.
Card issuers in part look at your credit risk when deciding what interest rate to give you. One of those metrics is your credit score, which primarily looks at payment history and your balance-to-available-credit ratio. That’s one reason why it’s important to pay attention to your score.
You probably know that if you carry a balance on your credit card, at some point you will pay interest. Here, we explain how that works.
Your interest is expressed in APR, or annual percentage rate. According to Discover, you divide that rate by 365 (days of the year) to calculate your daily rate. So, if your card has an APR of 15%, it will have a daily rate of .041096%. So, with a balance of $1,000 at 15%, you add the interest, and the new balance the next day is $1,000.41. This continues, with compounding, until the end of the month when your balance is $1,013.
You will usually get a grace period of roughly a month to pay your bill off and avoid interest, and of course you can take out a 0% intro APR card as well to avoid paying interest. But the bottom line is that if you don’t pay off your balance, you will eventually get slammed with interest, and your monthly charges can drag on for years if you only pay the minimum.
To calculate interest on a credit card, use our handy-dandy interest calculators, which allow you to figure out how long it will take you to pay off a balance with the minimum payment; how much you can save by speeding up the payment process; and more.
Here are the typical APRs charged by card issuers:
Here we look at a side-by-side comparison of two low interest cards with the features listed above:
| Card: | Discover it Cash Back |
Capital One VentureOne Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Credit Required: | Good – Excellent | Good – Excellent |
| 0% intro APR period – Purchases: | 14 months | 12 months |
| 0% intro APR – Balance transfer: | 14 months | n/a |
| Regular APR: | 13.49%-24.49% variable | 13.49%-23.49% variable |
| Annual fee: | $0 | $0 |
| Rewards rate: | 5% on rotating categories each quarter* | 1.25X miles on every purchase |
*On up to $1,500 in combined purchases each quarter after enrollment, then 1%
As you can see, the cards’ lowest rates and annual fees are comparable. The Discover card has a longer 0% intro APR period for purchases and the Capital One does not offer a 0% intro APR period on balance transfers. If you are not transferring a balance and plan to pay off your balance each month, the rewards for either card can be worth your while, depending on your preferred spending habits.
A high interest rate is one of the biggest culprits in attaining card debt. If you owe $3,000 and you are paying a rate of 16.5% APR, then it would take you 124 months to pay the minimum amount, and you would end up paying $2,122 in interest alone.
Card debt rose by $13 billion in the third quarter of 2019 when compared to the previous period, according to the New York Fed, while seriously delinquent credit card accounts (more than 90 days past due) leveled off to 8.3% in 2019.
To avoid that debt, the best thing you can do is to pay in full each month. Also, avoid putting charges on your card that you can’t pay in full by the due date. Want that big-screen TV but don’t have the cash? Start setting aside the money rather than paying with your card without a plan.
If you’re already stuck in debt, you can avoid paying some interest by paying more than the minimum amount. Remember that $3,000 at a 16.5% rate, in which you end up with more than $2,000 in interest charges because you paid the minimum? Well, if you paid $200 a month, those interest charges would drop to $383.
| Rate | Monthly payment | Months to pay off | Amount owed | Interest to pay off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16.5% | 3% or $25, whichever is greater | 124 | $3,000 | $2,122 |
| 16.5% | $200 | 17 | $3,000 | $383 |
Another way to save money on interest is to transfer an existing balance to a balance transfer card or a low interest card.
With a lower interest rate, and even better, 0% intro APR, you can pay off that card debt at a faster rate. Also, you save hundreds of dollars in interest charges.
| Card | Regular APR | Rate | Monthly payment | Months to pay off | Amount owed | Interest to pay off |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capital One VentureOne Rewards | 13.49%-23.49%, variable | 13.49% | 3% or $25, whichever is greater | 113 | $3,000 | $1,651 |
| Capital One VentureOne Rewards | 13.49%-23.49%, variable | 23.49% | 3% or $25, whichever is greater | 187 | $3,000 | $5,031 |
As you can see, even when you are paying the minimum, with the same card but the lowest and highest interest rate offered, the difference in the amount paid in interest is considerable, with the lowest rate paying more than $3,000 less in interest charges than the highest rate.
The most direct way to lower your interest rate on your credit card is to simply ask. We found in a 2018 survey that 56% of consumers who asked for a lower interest rate got it. And it’s important to stay mindful of what your interest rate is, although another of our polls found that one-third of cardholders with a balance didn’t know their interest rate.
In addition to interest incurred when carrying a balance, there’s another reason why you should avoid card debt. The second most important factor of your credit score is your credit utilization ratio, or how much you owe on your cards compared to how much credit you have available. So, if you owe $500 and you have $5,000 in available credit, then your utilization ratio is 10%.
| Card | Credit available | Amount owed | Credit utilization ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Cash Rewards | $2,000 | $200 | $200/$2,000=10% |
| Capital One Quicksilver | $2,000 | $300 | $300/$2,000=15% |
| Discover it Cash Back | $1,000 | $0 | $0/$1,000=0% |
| TOTAL | $5,000 | $500 | $500/$5,000=10% |
As you can see, there is a ratio for each card and a total ratio for all cards combined. Both matter. The industry standard is to keep the ratios under 30%, but it’s best to keep them as close to 0% as possible, partly to avoid paying interest and partly to keep your credit healthy.
With our picks for the best low interest credit cards on this page, we cover a unique selection of credit cards with low regular interest rates. We have also curated and compiled a list of the best credit cards with long 0% APR offers and for balance transfers specifically — check them out:
You can read some individual reviews for low interest credit cards at our reviews section. You can use these to get a better idea of how products compare to one another and decide which offer is the best for your needs.
† All information about The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express has been collected independently by CreditCards.com and has not been reviewed by the issuer. The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express is no longer available through CreditCards.com.
Laura is an editor and writer at CreditCards.com. She has written extensively on all things credit cards and works to bring you the most up-to-date analysis and advice. Laura’s work has been cited in such publications as the New York Times and Associated Press. You can reach her by e-mail at laura.mohammad@creditcards.com and on Twitter @creditcards_lm.
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