WASHINGTON (TNND) -- Before swiping your credit card this holiday season, make sure your interest rate hasn't changed. Dozens of the largest U.S. retailers and their bank partners raised rates on their store-branded cards. According to a review of data gathered by Bankrate, at least 50 companies bumped up rates, including Big Lots, Gap, Petco, Burlington, and Macy's.

Between September 2023 and September 2024, U.S. retailers began making big changes to their store-branded cards, raising interest rates to record highs before the Federal Reserve began cutting rates.

So they've always been higher than general purpose cards but the high end used to be around 29-30% and now it's 35-36%, said Ted Rossman, a Senior Industry Analyst at Bankrate.

According to Bankrate, Big Lots raised rates the highest; a full six percentage points. Gap made the second highest increase, 5%, followed by Petco at 4.5%.

"This in fact is borrowing and you have to pay attention to the credit card interest rate before you start charging," said Usha Rackliffe, a finance expert at Emory University.

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.