What Interest Do German Credit Cards Charge? (2026)
Germany sets no statutory limit on credit card interest, so no issuer is working under a published ceiling. The only backstop is the unconscionability test in BGB section 138, which bites at 2 times the prevailing market effective rate or 12 percentage points above it, both of which move with the market. Among the fee-free cards a new arrival can actually get, the published effective annual rates run from 16,05% on the Hanseatic Bank GenialCard to 24,4% on the Bank Norwegian Visa. Many German cards publish no rate at all, because they grant no revolving credit.
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What Is the Effektiver Jahreszins?
German price lists quote the effektiver Jahreszins, the effective annual rate. It is the figure to compare two cards on, and it is the figure a German lender must publish in its representative example under the Preisangabenverordnung.
Plenty of German cards show nothing in that column, and that is not an omission. A charge card or a delayed-debit card collects the whole statement balance every month, so no balance is ever carried and no rate applies. The table below is the fee-free ladder most new arrivals choose from, with each card's own published rate. Where it reads n/a, the card carries no revolving credit line to price.
| Card | Annual fee | Effective annual rate |
|---|---|---|
| Hanseatic Bank GenialCard | EUR 0 | 16,05% |
| Advanzia Gebührenfrei Mastercard Gold | EUR 0 | 20,9% |
| TF Bank Mastercard Gold | EUR 0 | 22,9% |
| Bank Norwegian Visa | EUR 0 | 24,4% |
| easybank Visa (formerly Barclays Visa) | EUR 0 | 21,21% |
| PAYBACK American Express | EUR 0 | n/a |
| awa7 Visa | EUR 0 | 21,96% |
Does Germany Cap Credit Card Interest?
No. Germany publishes no statutory limit on what a credit card may charge, and neither BaFin nor the Deutsche Bundesbank issues a quarterly maximum for issuers to price against. Anyone quoting you a single German ceiling figure is describing a different country's rules.
What German law does have is a test rather than a number. Under BGB section 138 and settled BGH case law a rate is treated as unconscionable once it reaches 2 times the prevailing market effective rate, or once it sits 12 percentage points above that market rate. Because both halves are measured against the market rate of the day, the threshold moves as rates move, and no fixed percentage can be printed as a limit.
The practical consequence for a cardholder is simple: nothing stops one issuer pricing far above another, so the comparison is yours to do. The spread inside this catalogue is wide, from 9,8% on the Miles & More Credit Card Blue to 24,4% on the Bank Norwegian Visa.
How Do You Avoid Paying Interest?
Pay the statement in full by its due date. On the Hanseatic Bank GenialCard interest applies only to a carried balance, so a full payment on time costs nothing, and the Bank Norwegian Visa gives up to 45 interest-free days on the same condition.
The catch is that several German cards are set up not to do that unless you tell them to. The Advanzia Gebührenfrei Mastercard Gold runs no automatic full direct debit, so only the minimum is taken and the rest is financed at 20,9%. The PAYBACK Visa arrives with 10% partial repayment pre-set at 13,15%, and the Miles & More Credit Card Myflex keeps instalment repayment permanently active at 15,65%. Set the repayment share to 100% on the day the card arrives, or the card prices itself as a loan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Germany have a legal maximum credit card rate?
No. German law publishes no statutory limit on credit card interest, so there is no figure an issuer must stay under. What exists instead is the unconscionability test under BGB section 138 and settled BGH case law: a rate can be struck down once it reaches 2 times the prevailing market effective rate, or sits 12 percentage points above it. Both halves of that test move with the market rate of the day, so neither produces a fixed number.
Why does my German credit card show no interest rate?
Because it grants no revolving credit. A charge card or a delayed-debit card collects the whole statement balance every month, so there is no carried balance to charge interest on and the price list quotes no effective rate. The American Express range, the Deutsche Bank Mastercard tiers and the 1822direkt Visa cards all sit in that group.
Which German credit card charges the least interest?
Among the fee-free cards a new arrival can realistically be approved for, the Hanseatic Bank GenialCard publishes the lowest effective annual rate at 16,05%, and the Bank Norwegian Visa the highest at 24,4%. Cards that charge an annual fee publish lower rates: the Miles & More Credit Card Blue quotes 9,8% against a EUR 66 annual fee, the Commerzbank GoldKreditkarte 10,2% against EUR 99.90.
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