What's the best credit card for young adults who want to finance a new purchase?

The best credit card for young adults who want to finance a new purchase is the Wells Fargo Reflect® Card because it offers 0% for 21 months from account opening on purchases. The card’s regular APR of 17.99% - 29.99% Variable will apply after that. Wells Fargo Reflect is available to people with good credit or better.

Young adults who are students will have better luck getting approved for the BankAmericard® credit card for Students, which offers 0% for 21 billing cycles on purchases. The regular APR is 15.74% - 25.74% Variable. Both cards have $0 annual fees.

Best Credit Cards for Young Adults to Finance a New Purchase

There are several other 0% APR student credit cards for young adults who are still in school, too. But young adults who want to finance a new purchase should avoid 0% APR store credit cards. They’re most likely to offer a 0% promo rate to people with fair credit, and they often have something called deferred interest. Deferred interest is where any interest you would accrue is simply postponed for a set period of time. And if you don’t pay off all of your balance before the promotional period is over, all that postponed interest will be charged to your account. So make sure you read the card’s terms and conditions carefully before applying or making a large purchase. That way, you’ll know what you’re stepping into.

General credit cards that you can use anywhere don’t have deferred interest. But the ones with 0% APRs don’t have low regular interest rates either. Whatever balance remains when the 0% period ends is what interest applies to with a normal card, but you still don’t want that balance to be big.

I’d argue that young adults should think twice before financing any purchases with a credit card. You should save as much as possible when you’re young, and use credit cards to earn rewards on purchases you can afford to make anyway.