For just about everything we buy, many of us use credit cards. We use them, and we pay big for them, now more than ever, as credit card interest rates soar higher and higher.
[WEB EXTRA: See zero percent credit cards ]
In fact, the average credit card owner in this country is paying 18.5 percent interest, according to Kevin Yuann, of the financial website NerdWallet.com.
"The interest rate, the APR you pay on your credit card is important and it makes an enormous difference because it's compounded daily, and if you're revolving that, it's going to add up very, very quickly," Yuann said.
To help you save huge money, Local 6 joined forces with NerdWallet.com, a company that has analyzed over 1,700 different credit card offers, to come up with the very cheapest credit cards on the market in terms of interest rates and fees.
At the top of the list, for people with excellent credit, meaning a credit score of 720 to 850, the cheapest credit card according to NerdWallet.com is the Citi Simplicity Card, with no annual fee, zero percent interest for 18 months and a low rate of just 12.9 percent after that.
"The Citi Simplicity Card is a great card for a number of reasons, because you can get 18 months of zero interest on a purchase, which is fabulous, because it's over a year and a half of not having to pay any interest," Yuann said.
No. 2 on that list for people with excellent credit is the Capital One Platinum Prestige, followed by the Bank Americard Visa.
Next, for people with average credit and a credit score that falls between 630 and 690, the most affordable card, according to NerdWallet.com, is the Somerset Trust Community Visa Gold. The card with the long name comes with no annual fee, just 3.9 percent interest for a full 6 months and a rate of just 10.9 percent after that.
No. 2 on this list for people with average credit is the First Progress Platinum Prestige. No. 3 is the Somerset Trust Company MasterCard.
For people with poor credit and a credit score of 350 to 630, NerdWallet.com analysts picked the First Progress Platinum Prestige Secured Card as the best deal. It comes with a $44 a year fee, an interest rate of 11.9 percent and can be opened with a minimum deposit of just $300.
For a much larger list of the most affordable credit cards available, as chosen by NerdWallet.com,click here. Pick the credit category that you fall into, excellent, good, average or poor, and read the list.