No Interest Credit Cards

By: Anne Durrell

No interest credit cards can be the ideal way to save money on expensive credit card interest charges. You might decide to use the interest saving to put towards reducing your balance more quickly or you might just find the reduction in monthly payments the ideal way to stretch your budget a little further.

While no interest credit cards sound like a great way to save a bit of money, there are some things you need to consider before you apply.

1. Balance Transfers

Before you send in your application for no interest credit cards, double check if the offer is valid for balance transfers only. Some banks will only honor the no interest offer if you're refinancing an existing credit card balance over to the new bank.

If you decide this is what you want, then always check whether the new lender will be closing your old credit card account properly. After all, if they pay down the balance but leave the card open, you suddenly have the temptation of a cleared credit card to use. If you do charge more items on your old card, then you'll have two debts to pay off instead of just your new no interest credit card.

2. Introductory Offer

Some banks offer no interest credit cards for an introductory period only. This could mean that you're being charged no interest for the first six or twelve months. However you may find that once this introductory period has ended you could be charged a higher than normal interest rate. Always check what the rate will revert to once the introductory period has ended.

3. Hidden Fees

While you might be tempted by the offer of no interest credit cards, you should always check whether the bank will be charging account fees or annual fees to make up for not charging you any interest. You might also find you could be charged application fees or processing fees as part of the initial account set up.

You should also ask whether there will be any balance transfer fees if you're refinancing the balance from an existing card over to the new lender. In most cases, the bank will add any associated fees to your balance, which increases the amount of total debt you have by the amount of the transfer fee.

While there are few considerations to think about when applying for no interest credit cards, you can seriously benefit if you're willing to be responsible with your finances. This means double checking that you won't be tempted to keep spending on other cards that will be charged at higher interest, otherwise you would have wasted all the benefits you received by having no interest credit cards in the first place.

No Interest Credit Cards

no interest rate credit card

No Interest Credit Cards

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