Credit cards issued by retail stores come with interest rates of up to twice as much as bank-issued cards, according to a study of 23 New York retailers. Senator Schumer, who released the study yesterday, said he would call upon the Federal Trade Commission to take action as soon as possible.

“A store credit card is like a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Mr. Schumer said. “You think you’re getting a real bargain at the register, but wait until the bill comes.”

Sears charges the highest rate of the stores Mr. Schumer surveyed, with an interest rate of 24.15% on all purchases. Ann Taylor, Express, Victoria’s Secret, and Abercrombie and Fitch each offer credit cards with 22.8% rates.

The average interest for bank-issued credit cards is about 13%, according to the financial information organization Bankrate Incorporated.

Sears grants customers 20 days to pay off their debt without interest, and the other four stores each grant 25 days, as did many other of the stores in Mr. Schumer’s study. Pottery Barn offered only four to five days, and an interest rate of 20.75%.

The department store Kohls, the study found, offers the lowest interest rate, at 12.99%. It gives customers only 10 days to pay off their credit card debt.

The stores use special offers to attract customers to sign up for their credit cards. Many offer 10% off the first purchase made with a new card, and others offer monthly discounts.

Representatives of the companies were not available for comment yesterday.

Mr. Schumer said a bill he sponsored that was signed into law in 1988 requires banks to display the interest rates on any advertisement or solicitation for their credit cards, which he says has resulted in lower interest rates for bank-issued credit cards.

Mr. Schumer said he plans to send a letter to the Federal Trade Commission urging that the agency place a similar requirement on store-issued credit cards. Mr. Schumer would also require customers be informed up front of a store credit card’s interest rate and be told that it is higher than a typical bank-issued card. He would also require stores to stop marketing to college students and young adults.

“The kids don’t know,” he said.

Mr. Schumer said that if the FTC doesn’t act quickly, he plans to propose legislation that would make his proposed requirements law in time for the holiday season next year.

Some industry observers are less concerned than Mr. Schumer about the rates charged by stores.

“The cards have grace periods. As long as you pay off in full when you get the bill, you’ll get the benefits and you won’t be hit with the high rates,” the creator of the free debt advice Web site Debtsmart.com and author of “Talk Your Way Out of Debt,” Scott Bilker, told The New York Sun. Stores, he said, “are counting on you not to be prudent, and market research shows that people often are not. Otherwise they wouldn’t offer” the cards.