Looking for 0 card credit interest percent on balance transfers for the life of the balance?  If you are, you may need to ensure that the life of your balance fits into the introductory offer the credit card company has extended you.

At creditcards.com (www.creditcards.com), the top pick in the balance transfer category is the Chase Platinum Visa card which offers 0 APR card credit percent for up to 12 months, depending on your credit history.  You have to have good credit to even get this card and even then, if your credit history isn’t up to par, you’ll only receive the 0% on balance transfers for 3 months.

On the positive side though, if you have excellent credit, not only will your balance transfer be at 0 card credit percent but your purchases will be as well, for 12 months that is.  Afterwards, the APR for purchases and the APR for your balance transfer will rise to 14.24%.

Although 0 card credit interest percent for the life of your balance isn’t totally unheard of, (Discover has had such offers in the past and may again), most of the time there is an introductory period attached to the 0 APR card credit percent and you have to fit your “life of the balance” into the credit card company’s introductory period in order to come out on top.  Otherwise, you may find yourself paying more for your transferred balance than you did before the transfer took place.


Read the Fine Print

Even if you are transferring a relatively low balance or you’re sure you can pay it off before the introductory 0 card credit percent period on your balance transfer ends, there are still situations that can raise your APR during those time periods that you need to be aware of.  For instance, with most credit cards, if you’re late on a payment even by one day, your 0 APR card credit percent will automatically rise to the normal APR on the card for purchases or in some cases, it can be raised as high as 30%.


Pay all Your Bills on Time

You may think that paying your credit card bill on time will keep you safe from rising interest rates with that card but that simply isn’t true.  Even if you pay a utility bill late, the credit card company can change your 0 card credit interest percent in the blink of an eye.  The fine print contained in most credit card disclosures stipulates that they have the right to check your credit at any time and to raise your 0 percent credit card interest if they choose.  It also states if you’re late paying another bill they can hike up your interest rate.

This practice is called Universal Default and for some time, consumers didn’t even realize it was happening but these days a lot of people are raising a big stink about it.  Just recently however, New York’s Governor Pataki vetoed a bill that would have outlawed this practice, claiming it was too vague.  So for now at least, your credit card company may be watching how you pay all your other bills and penalize you if they don’t like what they see.


Current Credit Card Offers

Good customers often get offers in the mail that aren’t advertised anywhere else so there is still hope for that 0 card credit offer percent for the life of the balance if you have an excellent credit history and you continue to do so.  If the credit card companies aren’t beating down your door to offer you 0% however, you might want to do some comparison shopping on your own.

DebtSmart.com (www.debtsmart.com) has a list of 141 credit cards, some of them prepaid, for which they offer detailed descriptions of the interest rates, other fees and general pros and cons.  You can even sort the list by rating, fees or APR.  For example, Advanta Life of Balance Platinum MasterCard, designed for businesses, offers a 2.99 APR on balance transfers and specifies that it is for the life of the balance.  However, the APR for purchases is a variable 9.99%.  Anytime you have a credit card with a variable rate, you’re taking a chance and as with all balance transfers, your payments will go first to the balance you transferred with a 2.99 APR and then to the new purchases. 

Even though the 2.99% is for the life of the balance, in this case, if you transfer a very high balance, you’re going to be paying the variable 9.99% for some time which may not be ok if the prime rate goes up.

It appears that the best chance you have of getting 0 card credit offer percent for the life of your balance is to be rewarded through the credit card company you already do business with.  Read the fine print though because when Discover did offer 0% for the life of the balance, it was with the condition that two purchases were to be made per billing cycle at a higher interest rate.

It goes without saying that the best customers will indeed receive the best interest rates.