Instant Decision Credit Cards

Long-term borrowing on credit cards is expensive. Many of us take advantage of the offers by some lenders for 0% balance transfers. This can obviously save lots of money, but is it that simple? Most of the fees are transparent, but you need to know the terms.

There is often a charge for the transfer; this could be a percentage of the transferred balance or a flat fee. Some lenders do cap this fee on large transfers. Also, we have to bare in mind that 0% may apply to the transferred balance but the interest rate on new purchases may exceed the rate of the previous card. Less obvious and more important is the 'negative order of payments' system, this obliges us to clear the transferred sum before our payments reduce the balance on new purchases. Until then interest is charged. Though some lenders are keen to show that 0% applies to purchases as well as balance transferred.

So it is important to compare the terms of interest free credit cards . How long is the interest free period? When the period is over, what is the interest rate? The interest rates on many 0% cards can be significantly higher than standard cards- 16% is not unusual.

To avoid the problems compare the offers. Many of the comparison sites such as www.creditchoices.co.uk not only compare all the offers but also host articles explaining the problems and highlighting the small print.