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6 Things You Should Know About 0% APR Credit Card Offers.

Posted on | November 4, 2009 |

0% APR credit card offers are certainly a lot more rare than they were a few years ago, but if you’re lucky enough to still qualify for one, you’ll want to go over this check list to see if you’re really all that lucky, or if you’re going to be taken for a ride.

Watch the clock.
Some offers are only 0% for 3 or 6 months, others for 9-12. Knowing how much time is left can mean the difference between hundreds of dollars or more in interest payments.

Know the split.
Some 0% APR offers are only for the transfer balance, not new purchases. And some also state that any payments will go to the transferred balance first! That means every new purchase you put on the card takes a back seat and racks up interest while your minimum payment goes toward the transferred balance.

Watch for an activity clause.
Some offers reset the 0% rate to a much higher “normal” rate if the card is not used for new purchases. Avoid these cards, because there’s no real value in transferring (unless the new normal rate is still less than your current rate).

Know the transfer fees.
Some offers carry a 2 or 3% fee for the transfer. But watch out for a lack of limit. There used to be max charge of $50-75 for the transfer (ex: 3% or $75, whichever is more) but some cards are removing the cap. This could be costly on bigger balances. For example, a 3% transfer fee on a $10,000 balance would be a $300 hit!

Know yourself.
Transferring your current credit card balance to a 0% APR card will only benefit you if you stop adding additional charges, and aggressively pay down the transferred balance while the 0% APR is in effect. By far, the single biggest risk of the 0% APR card offer is that you get lazy and make a late payment, or pile new charges on top of the old ones.

Know where to find 0% APR offers.
If you’re looking for a 0% transfer offer as a way to help dig out from your credit card debt, check the web sites Bank Rate and Lowcards.com.

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Comments

3 Responses to “6 Things You Should Know About 0% APR Credit Card Offers.”

  1. bizvals
    November 5th, 2009 @ 12:15 pm

    Nice informative blog and have great tips… Thanks for submitting :)

  2. Samantha Edwards
    November 6th, 2009 @ 5:33 am

    I still don’t get it because I am not using credit card until now.

  3. 2009, year in review.
    December 30th, 2009 @ 10:26 pm

    [...] Since it seemed to be a hot topic, for me anyway, I decided to share 6 things you should know about 0% APR credit card offers. [...]

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