September 5, 2007:  Consumer Reports, in the October 2007 issue, announced the results of their subscriber survey to find out which credit card issuers were best and which were the worst.  More than 36,000 readers participated in the survey.

Credit Unions dominated the list of the Best, with the military-based, $6.5 billion USAA leading the list:

1. USAA Federal Savings
2. Navy Federal Credit Union
3. Other credit unions
4. Cabela's
5. Nordstrom

While USAA and Navy are larger institutions, not many consumers have access to their services.  Of the major issuers, American Express was rated as the highest, closely followed by Discover.  Most of the other major issuers found their card rated among the worst. 

Respondents to the Consumer report survey rated Providian as the worst credit card, with Capital One, MBNA and Chase, filling out the bottom five:

1. Providian
2. Direct Merchants
3. Capital One
4. MBNA (now part of Bank of America)
5. JPMorgan Chase

Although the Consumer Report article didn't fully elaborate, dissatisfaction with a card probably stemmed from rapidly escalating interest rate issues, most likely for late payments.