Many debtors are becoming savvy about how debt can have a very negative impact on their financial health. Many debtors are even going so far as not taking on any debt at all, keeping their existing credit card balances at zero and rejecting any and all new credit card offers that come their way. But credit card companies are not giving up on their efforts to saddle Americans with more debt and one of their most powerful tools is the 0% APR offer. Sound enticing? Where below are three things every debtor should know about the 0% APR credit card offer?
Many 0% APR credit cards will hit the debtor with very high APR penalties if there are late on payments made on the card. A debtor only a day or two late on their 0% APR credit card could find themselves paying a 25% penalty APR for their infraction.
Most 0% APR credit cards only apply this low APR to purchases. Many credit card consumers duped into transferring large debt balances onto their 0% APR card are in for a shock when they are hit with a high interest rate on the transferred debt.
Credit cards that offer 0% APR are only offering it for a limited time. By law, credit card companies must keep the introductory APR in place for at least six months; but after that time the APR can go up. So before applying for a 0% APR credit card, debtors need to find out how much the real APR is once the introductory offer expires.