Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has encouraged Australian consumers to 'shop around' for the best credit card rates.
The statement came in response to a question at a Chamber of Commerce lunch in Brisbane on Friday.
A businessman queried the Prime Minister on how banks, credit unions and building societies could continue to charge interest rates between 14 and 35 per cent on credit cards in the wake of the government's guarantee of bank funds in a $700 billion program last October.
"I think it's time to rein in some of the financial interest rates that are being charged not only by the majors but the minor banks - in the current climate it's ridiculous," the businessman said.
The Prime Minister responded that after reviewing 300 credit card rates, he found "rates vary enormously - it really does pay to shop around,"
"We've got circumstances which have been underpinned by government policy action against inter-bank lending by our principal financial institutions.
"But there should be an appropriate reflection of that across the lending policies adopted by our banks."
The Prime Minister's comments come as the U.S. senate refused a push to cap credit card interest rates at 15%. The independent senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, introduced a bill to the senate, but was defeated.
The U.S. Senate is currently developing its own credit card overhaul, but sources suggest it won't include interest rate caps.
Currently, our comparison table lists eight credit cards with interest rates below 12 per cent:
ANZ Low Rate MasterCard
Aussie MasterCard
Bankwest Lite MasterCard
St George Vertigo MasterCard
Citibank Clear Platinum
NAB Low Rate Visa
Suncorp Clear Options Standard
Commonwealth Low Rate
