Finance Tips

If you are in credit card debt and suffering from high monthly interest charges, zero interest credit cards are an easily accessible solution. Many credit card providers offer 0 balance transfer credit cards to encourage people to transfer their credit card balances. This is a popular and successful marketing technique which you can take advantage of. These credit cards offer an interest free period of usually between three to fifteen months. However, once this period is over you will have to pay normal interest charges. Thus, for the cost of the interest free period, these lenders have purchased a customer. That is, if you play the game their way. You do not, however, have to do this.

There is nothing to stop you playing the credit card transfer game your own way. The goal of your credit card provider is to profit from your indebtedness. Your goal is to keep as much of your own money as possible and if you’re smart, to become debt free and financially strong. You can use 0 balance transfer credit cards to do just that.

The first step to freedom from high credit card costs is to find an interest free offer for credit card balance transfers. Choose a credit card with the lowest balance transfer fees and the longest interest free period. Twelve months or more is best. As you near the end of this twelve month period, start to compare other 0 balance transfer credit cards with low upfront costs and decent introductory periods. Once you decide on the best offer, apply to transfer the balance of your current card to the new one. In this way, you will be able to continue to benefit from a zero interest rate.

This simple idea can save you thousands of dollars in interest charges. However, even though the idea is simple it can be difficult to wade through all the offers in the marketplace and go through the application processes. The easiest and quickest way to implement this financial strategy is to take advantage of an established online credit card transfer service. A professional service such as this will already have done the initial research and selection for you so that you only have to consider a smaller range of the best 0 balance transfer credit cards. These services will also generally provide an online application process to make things even easier.

However, the best of these professional sites will also offer a reminder service so that you don’t forget that your interest free period is coming to an end. An alert will be sent to give you enough time to transfer your balance to another zero interest card. This service will support your decision to continue to move your balance to a new credit card so that you never have to pay interest. There is no doubt that the busyness of life can easily get in the way, causing us to forget our good intentions. A reminder service can give you a prod to act quickly in your own best financial self interest.

Introductory, interest free credit cards offer a user friendly way out of the credit card trap. As long as you remember to transfer your balance to another of the many available 0 balance transfer credit cards before the introductory period expires, you will be able to gain your financial equilibrium easily.

0% balance transfer credit cards are a type of interest free credit card which allow you to pay zero interest on your debt for a fixed period of time, meaning it can be a cheap way to pay off debts if you can navigate the system to your benefit. However, while these credit cards can be very useful in certain circumstances, if you’re not careful they could equally lose you money. Here are the dos and don’ts of 0% balance transfer cards.

DO: Compare offers

Different providers offer different terms on their 0% balance transfer credit cards. Shop around for longer interest free repayment periods, lower interest rates once the offer is over and lower transfer fees where possible. It might not seem important right now, since you will not be paying any interest at first, but these factors could save you hundreds of pounds later on if you find yourself unable to pay off the balance within the promotional interest free period.

DON’T: Ignore transfer fees

Transfer fees are now standard on the majority of 0% balance transfer cards. This is because providers want to avoid customers taking up the interest free offer, failing to pay off their debt within the promotional and simply switching card supplier each time the interest free offer expires. Balance transfer fees vary from card to card but are usually around 2.5% to 3% of the total balance owed. Look for the lowest balance transfer fees possible when comparing credit cards.

DO: Be realistic

Be completely honest with yourself about how long it will take you to pay off your debt. If you know you can realistically pay it off within the interest free period, it could well be a good idea. If you’re not sure then you need to be wary of 0% balance transfer credit cards – leaving your debt for longer than the interest free period could costs you high interest repayments, the average interest on credit cards being around 17.5% in the UK. If you run out of time and choose to move your debt, meanwhile, you may be met with the alternative cost of the card’s transfer fee. If you don’t really know how long it will take to pay off your debts, a lifetime balance credit card might be more appropriate.

DON’T: Make purchases

Unless your 0% balance transfer credit card terms specify that the card is 0% on purchases, the likelihood is that you will have to pay very high interest on any purchases you make with the card. Even if the card does specify ’0% on purchases’, many customers don’t fully understand the conditions attached to this. Certain purchases could still carry high interest rates, as could instant cash transactions, such as cash withdrawals, so people often inadvertently trigger these expenses simply due to not understanding the terms and conditions attached. Also, making any purchases will increase the overall debt and make it harder to pay off the balance before the end of the promotional interest free period.

These days there are numerous credit cards in the market with 0% balance transfers for up 12 months or more. This interest free borrowing period is an obvious incentive to encourage new customers to sign up.

The interest free balance transfer option has its merits as you get to enjoy an interest free credit period within which you can pay off the balance or take a credit card repayment holiday. As the saying goes “nothing in life is free”, there is a catch and most potential credit cardholders tend to over look this in the haste to sign up.

Balance shifting fees: fees of up to 3% may be charged by some companies which is mostly listed in the small print and not clearly advertised.

Ratchet APR%s: be mindful as companies may offer an increased interest free period at a later stage with an increased (higher than normal APR%) on purchase transactions and cash advances.

The biggest catch: apart from rates the real benefit of moving credit balances is the 0% balance transfer period on credit cards as it can help you pocket a decent amount of savings. But credit card companies also know that and the biggest catch is that you can only remain at the 0% APR rate on the old balance which you transferred, regardless of how much you have reduced that balance by.

To illustrate, say you transferred a balance of £3,000 from your old Halifax card to a new HSBC credit card which gives you a 6 months 0% APR on transfer. During the first two months you manage to repay £2,000 of that old transferred debt and to celebrate, you decide to go shopping and put on another £1,000 on the new card. Now, one would think that the deal was £3,000 with 0% APR for 6 months but no, the new purchase of £1,000 would be charged at the credit card’s normal APR% while the old balance remains at the 0% rate. The tip here is to never use your balance transfer card to make purchases as you will lose the main advantage of taking the 0% interest period in the first place. Always check the fine print before applying and try searching the web to get behind the deals.

Ever since zero percent introductory annual percentage rate (intro APR) credit cards were introduced to the American market several years ago, they’ve been very popular. All types of consumers have been taking advantage of 0% offers. Most consumers use 0% deals to save money by avoiding interest charges on their credit card debt, while other money-savvy consumers use 0% offers to make money by playing the 0% credit card arbitrage game (also known as “stoozing.”) Many 0% credit card offers come with a catch: you have to pay a fee for transferring a balance. There are, however, a few select credit card products out there where you don’t have to pay a fee for the first or initial balance transfer.

Feeless, 0% intro APR balance transfer deals — perhaps the most sought-after 0% deals on the Internet — are a dying breed. Dying, but not dead. The pool of banks that offer feeless 0% deals has been shrinking. Why? Because the banks and credit card companies know that by eliminating the balance transfer transaction fee, a balance transfer “surfer” can transfer a credit card balance to a card, sit out the interest-free period, then transfer the balance out to a new 0% deal — thus denying the bank any opportunity to make money off the surfer. The balance transfer transaction fee gives a bank the opportunity to get at least something out of the deal.

The Discover More family of credit cards, offered by Discover Financial Services (DFS), has been exceedingly popular for transferring credit card balances. Why? Because, heretofore, with any Discover More card, you could transfer a credit card balance and pay no interest on the transferred funds for 12 months, with no balance transfer transaction fee. But that’s not all: with Discover More, you could (and still can) get a 0% rate on new credit card purchases for 12 months to boot. Its no wonder that the Discover More family of credit cards has been a top-ranked collection of credit cards at many top-rated websites.

But DFS recently made a change to the terms and conditions associated with the Discover More family of credit cards: you now have to pay a fee for transferring a balance; the minimum transfer fee is $10. The Discover More group of cards still offers great value, with a 0% intro APR rate on both balance transfers and new purchases for one year, but the nascent balance transfer transaction fee may turn off some folks out there in the market for a hot, 0% credit card deal.

OK, now for the good news: Bank of America, Washington Mutual (Wamu) and Pulaski Bank still offer consumer credit cards where you can transfer a balance at zero percent for 6 or 12 months (depending on the card) and pay no balance transfer fee. Furthermore, Capital One has business credit cards that provide an option to transfer balances without assessing a balance transfer transaction fee.

If you plan on hunting (or continuing your hunt) for an attractive 0% credit card deal after reading this article, remember two things:
In your search for “no fee balance transfer” 0% deals, you may find articles, blog posts or other website content with claims that feeless 0% deals no longer exist. Don’t buy it. Feeless 0% balance transfer offers can still be found today — even with certain business credit cards — if you know where to look. Credit card deals are constantly evolving, so if you’re planning on signing up for a specific 0% offer that you’ve had your eye on for a while, try not to drag your heels. The sexy, feeless balance transfer offer you find today may be gone tomorrow. Thankfully, the selection of “no fee” 0% deals is still quite healthy, so you don’t have to panic if the offer you wanted disappears.