Comments on: 0% Credit Cards: No Interest Purchases & Balance Transfers Offers

By: Will

Will — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:58:29 +0000

I’ve not been able to find a capped fee card in a couple years now. I find one that will give 12 months (15 months they had a couple times) for a 3%fee. I do the math and usually recoup the 3% in two months of no interest on the old card.

Good luck.

Will

By: STephanie

STephanie — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:16:35 +0000

Just be careful about going over the limit if your using the BT option. My husband and I just got burned today by going over $40! Not only did they charge us $39 for going over the limit they defaulted our 0% offer to 25%! We have excellent credit and have only had this card for a couple of months. By the way, this is a Citi Card. We are now trying to find another card to get the balance off of it.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:59:37 +0000

How to beat the vultures:

Credit card companies exist to [screw] you over big time. They can literally do any thing they want to do to your account. If you don’t want a house or a new car use them to the max and then file for bankruptcy.

By: Marc Z

Marc Z — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:16:03 +0000

If I open one of these 0% credit cards on balances for 6-12 months, Am I charged 0% interest each month as long as I pay the minimum balance due? Does that apply to all purchases I make during the 6-12 months? What is the average interest rate on these cards after the 6-12 month grace period? WHICH CARD DO YOU RECOMMEND OVER ALL CARDS AND WHY.NAT7211
MZ

By: Gary

Gary — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:53:09 +0000

I’ve had varying amounts from $25000- $375000 over the past 12 years on 0% to 1.99% credit card deals and dodged 10% construction loan charges using it, and when the construction loan was paid off, I started depositing the money in CD’s and Money Market Accounts making a 2-5% spread on the money. Set up auto pay for the minimums, make sure the cash is available to pay off when due and you can’t lose. That’s called arbitrage and I love it.

Completely unrelated, watch my tv show Superscapes on hgtv on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am and know that guy beats the credit card companies at their own game. Ha!

Great site by the way and good luck to everyone

By: Dave the Rave

Dave the Rave — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:36:29 +0000

the HSBC premier card is a 0% purchase card for 1 yr. Its not listed here or on creditcards.com. It’s pretty good with no fee but the catch is the ability to apply for it as you have to have 100k to get a HSBC premier checking acct. But that requirement can be waived if you have a personal banking that’s willing to grow with you.

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:48:17 +0000

Clark Howard once suggested paying student loan balances last after everything else, because government-backed student loans offer deferrment or elmination due to disablility, unemployment, or death. Credit cards and commercial loans should be targeted first since there is rarely forgiveness for anything with cc compaines!

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:22:27 +0000

The finance charge is calculated on your balance transfer fee amount. Always remember too that they always apply your payment to the lowest interest rate first so the higher ones keep accumulating during that time. I good rule that i use per DAVE RAMSEY is to attack your lowest balance first and get rid of it regardless of the interest rate because it will show quick progress and will keep you motivated to attack the next lowest balance and so on and so forth. Pay the minimum on all the others though while attacking the one.

By: JL

JL — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:05:07 +0000

I just got the 0%APR Citicard and I’m trying to figure out what the finance charges are during this period, if there are any. It says 50cent minimum finance charge. And I tried calling them to get someone on the phone who didn’t even know what I was asking and kept reading the same thing over and over again. Anyone know how the finance charge works?

By: jepoole17

jepoole17 — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:47:29 +0000

I think an often overlooked benefit to the 0% on Purchases CC offer is the set of “checks” that you receive along with your shiny new card.

Around Sept 2008, we applied for a Chase MasterCard that boasted 0% on Balance Transfers and Purchases through October 2009. At this point we had already been sticking to our debt repayment plan for 6 months so we decided to take advantage of the offer in order to eliminate interest expenses for over a year while we knocked out our remaining $4000 of CC debt (no fee on BT if applied at time of application).

Once we’d moved our balances over, we were down to just one CC account and a single “Debt Consolidation Loan” that was hammering us with interest expenses (13%). Using one of the checks that MC sent along with our card, I made a deposit into my checking account for the balance of that loan (approx. $12000) and promptly paid the loan off, effectively consolidating all Credit Card and Loan debt to the 0% credit card. I will say that I paid a small fee for using the check (2-3% of the amount?), but this was significantly better than continuing to pay out the nose for the interest on the loan.

As with any use of credit, I would caution anyone who considers using these checks as a debt reduction tool to do the math before jumping in. My wife and I discussed several factors at length before choosing to make this move, not the least of which was our own ability to pay off the outstanding balance (approx $16000) in the prescribed timeline, before the intro rate expired. I’m pleased to say that we were able to eliminate the balance altogether by January 2009 (6 months ahead of schedule) due to some good fortune and level-headed budgeting decisions on our parts. We’re now free of all CC debt and are working toward paying off one car loan and then on to the mortgage…

Sorry for the long post, but I hope that this is a helpful (and possibly unique) addition to the site.

By: TM in CA

TM in CA — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:05:05 +0000

P.S. You need to be a CostCo member to apply.

By: TM in CA

TM in CA — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:04:08 +0000

American Express TrueEarnings Credit Card offers a 0% APR balance transfer – for 3 months – and the fee is a flat fee of $35 for amounts over $400, as of April 2, 2009

By: Jim

Jim — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:10:54 +0000

Unfortunately, there aren’t any offers out there.

Credit card offers simply aren’t very good anymore because of the economy.

By: danidee

danidee — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:00:01 +0000

Jim, we need an update!!! Where are the 0% balance transfers with a cap fee???? Thanks!

By: JAJUKA

JAJUKA — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 12:43:53 +0000

I played the Bt game for over 25 years. The trick is not the 0% rates but low APR rates for the life of the payoff without any fees attached. I ended up with about 10 cards and my highest APR was 3.99%. I was able to keep it up by paying the min due plus the finance charge each month. After 25 years, I accumuated over $70,000.00 in debt. Last March I took a withdrawal from from my 401k (I am over 59 1/2 yrs old) and paid off all my debt. I do not suggest the BT game for everyone because it can get away from you very fast.