Credit-card interest rates are on the rise.

Rates rose 2.12 percentage points on average in the first quarter compared to a year earlier, according to a study from CardHub, a credit-card web site. The average rate for a cardholder with good credit stood at 17.35 percent last quarter.

Despite the rise in rates, balance transfer offers improved in the first quarter, according to the
report. The length of the average zero-percent introductory period stood at 10.75 months in the first quarter, up 4.5 percent from a year earlier and 3.8 percent from the fourth quarter.

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"Balance transfers are a seasonal attraction that provide the best deals during the first and fourth quarters of the year," the report says. "As a result, introductory periods on balance transfers are expected to shorten over the next six months."

As for consumer complaints, billing topped the list, accounting for 21.5 percent of total complaints in the first quarter. To be sure, that's down 4.3 percentage points from a year earlier and 9.4 points from the fourth quarter.

Fraud was the second biggest complaint, making up 9.7 percent of all complaints.

If you're worried about thievery, Bankrate.com cites several ways your credit card data can be stolen. Here are two of them.

• When you use your card to pay for a restaurant bill, a waiter/waitress can run your card through a device that copies your information.

• A thief can attach a skimmer to a credit card reader at a gas pump. The skimmer then generates a Bluetooth signal that goes to a nearby lap-top computer, giving the thief card data from customers.

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