Citi Costco Visa

[Np1791]

Interesting thing I noticed. This credit card started with an apr of about 15.24% slowly but surely the apr has been increasing and now it's at 17.24%. It's also a set apr which means that it can't be lowered. Wonder how high it will go.

[Anonymous]

It's all based on the prime rate if you have a variable interest rate card. The prime rate has gone up from 4% in early 2017 to 5.25% today. 

[FinStar]

It is a variable rate that has adjusted with prime over the past year or so. Unlike Citi's other core CC products, the Costco Visa CC doesn't have an APR spread.

So, I'm sure as the prime rate goes up, so would the APR on this card.

[dragontears]

+1 the rate is going up due to the increase of the prime rate (all CC with variable rates have gone up due the increasing prime rate)

[FinStar]

Right, but I believe the noticeable difference is that the Costco Visa does not have an APR spread (or range if you would) like their other CC products.

[SBR249]

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@FinStar wrote:
Right, but I believe the noticeable difference is that the Costco Visa does not have an APR spread (or range if you would) like their other CC products.

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That might be due to the cobranding agreement that Citi negotiated with Costco. Costco is pretty well known for capping their profit margins on all their products, I can see the same egalitarian philosophy being applied to their vendor and partnership agreements. 

I believe that AmEx has at least one (maybe more) cobranded cards that also do not have an APR spread. The Mercedes-Benz I think?