US retailers raised interest rates ahead of Fed cuts; new data reveals

We're swiping your credit card this holiday season. Make sure your interest rate hasn't changed. Dozens of the largest US retailers and their bank partners jacked up rates on their store branded cards, some by a full 6 percentage points. The National News does Jeff Harris joining us. Jeff, we were just talking about Black Friday shopping so many Americans don't want to hear this as the season of spending gets underway, which companies increased rates. So as of right now, Didi, at least 50 companies bumped up race within just this past year, including Big Lots, Gap, Petco, Burlington, also Macy's. That's according to bank rate between September 2023 in September of this year, US retailers began making big changes to their store branded cards, raising interest rates to record highs before the Federal Reserve began cutting in order to bump up profits. Now, according to bank rate, Big Lots raised rates the highest. A full 6 percentage points and Gap made the second largest increase. 5 percentage points followed by Petco at 4 1⁄2%. So they've always been higher than general purpose cards, but the high end used to be around 29 or 30% and now it's 35 or 36%. This is in fact a borrowing and you have to pay attention to the credit card interest rate before you start charging right now. The average interest rate on a store card is at an all time high. Plus credit card debt and delinquencies are reaching levels not seen in years. For that reason, Rossman's advice is think twice before opening a card this holiday season with interest rates so high unless you're paying the balance in full. He says whatever discount that's being offered when you sign up. Likely isn't worth it.