0% APR Credit Cards

The longest 0% APR credit cards are Citi Diamond Preferred and Citi Simplicity, which both offer 21 months of no interest. Such a long period of 0% interest can be really helpful if you need to make a big purchase but can’t pay it all off right away. You can avoid interest entirely if you pay in full by the time the intro rate ends. And if you can’t manage that, you’ll at least have a smaller balance when interest kicks in.

It’s important to note that some store cards may offer 0% interest for longer than 21 months, but they use deferred interest. That is, you earn interest on your balance during the 0% period but don’t have to pay that interest if and only if you bring your balance to $0 before the 0% period ends. The JCPenney Card is one example, offering 48 months of deferred interest. But those cards are best avoided because there’s a chance you’ll get blindsided by interest charges. So they’re not really eligible to be in the running for longest 0% APR.

Here are the longest 0% APR credit cards:

• Citi Diamond Preferred: 0% for 21 months on purchases and 0% for 21 months on balance transfers. No annual fee. Requires good credit.
  
• Citi Simplicity: 0% for 21 months on purchases and 0% for 21 months on balance transfers. No annual fee and no late fees. Requires good credit.
  
• Wells Fargo Platinum Visa: 0% for 18 months on purchases and 0% for 18 months on balance transfers. No annual fee. Requires good credit.
  
• HSBC Gold Mastercard: 0% for 18 months on purchases and 0% for 18 months on balance transfers. No annual fee. Requires good credit.

None of these cards offer rewards, but they’re meant for financing rather than regular spending. And you can use a different card for purchases you’ll pay in full each month. All of these cards also require good credit (so you should shoot for 700+ before you apply).

Credit cards with 0 APR for 21 months used to be common, but there’s only one credit card with no interest for 21 months right now: the Citi Diamond Preferred card. Citi Diamond Preferred’s 21-month 0% APR is for balance transfers. That’s the longest interest-free period of any balance transfer card, but there is a transfer fee of $5 or 5%, whichever is greater. And you have to transfer your balance within four months of being approved for an account to get the 0% rate. Citi Diamond Preferred also offers a 0% APR on purchases for 12 months. 

There aren’t any credit cards with 0% interest for 21 months on purchases. But a few cards come close, offering 0% for the first 18 months: Citi Simplicity, HSBC Gold, and Wells Fargo Platinum.

Credit Cards with 0 APR for 21 Months:

• Citi Diamond Preferred is the only credit card with a 0% APR for 21 months (on balance transfers). It also offers a 0% APR for 12 months on purchases. 
• Citi Diamond Preferred charges a 5% balance transfer fee and a $0 annual fee. 
• Until 2017, the Citi Diamond Preferred and Citi Simplicity cards offered a 0% APR for 21 months on purchases.
• The longest 0% APR for new purchases on a credit card is 18 months. Citi Simplicity, the HSBC Gold Mastercard and the Wells Fargo Platinum Visa are among the credit cards offering no-interest on purchases for the first 18 months your account is open.
• Some store credit cards offer 0% APRs for 24, 36, 48 and even 72 months. But those aren’t normal 0% rates. If you don’t pay your full balance by the deadline, you’ll get hit with a boatload of interest charges – based on your original purchase amount, not the remaining balance.

If you transfer a balance or make purchases with a normal 0% credit card, interest will apply only to any balance that’s remaining when the 0% period ends. Still, a high rate will take over at that point. So you’ll want to make sure you don’t owe much.

Credit card refinancing is when you transfer credit card debt to another credit card with the goal of saving money on interest. In other words, credit card refinancing is a balance transfer. You can transfer a balance to another credit card with either a lower regular interest rate than you’re currently paying or a 0% introductory rate lasting anywhere from 6 to 21 months. The average 0% balance transfer period is just over 11 months.

The goal should be saving on interest to pay off your debt, but it’s easy to start a cycle of robbing Peter to pay Paul. You want to avoid kicking a balance from card to card since most balance transfers charge costly fees. There are few other things to keep in mind when considering credit card refinancing, especially if you want to get rid of the debt for good.

Here’s how credit card refinancing works:

• Ways to Refinance Credit Card Debt: Transferring your balance to another credit card for a lower interest rate is the best, most common approach. You could also use a personal loan to pay off your credit card, assuming it has a lower rate.
• Other Types of Credit Card Refinancing: You can use a credit card to refinance all common types of consumer debt. For example, some credit card companies will let you pay off a car loan or mortgage with a credit card balance transfer.
• Credit Card Refinancing Loans: Another option is to consolidate your credit card debt with a credit card refinancing loan. This is a great way to pay down credit card debt because you can’t add to the balance like you can on a credit card. You’ll be on a strict payment timeline but you can also save on interest with a fixed rate on a loan.
• Credit Cards for Refinancing: The average balance transfer credit card offers 0% for roughly 11 months and charges a balance transfer fee of around 2.7%.
• Best Credit Cards for Refinancing: Chase Slate and Amex EveryDay are among the top balance transfer cards available right now.
• Credit Card Refinancing Limits: Most of the balance transfer credit cards that disclose minimum starting credit limits offer at least $500. The amount you transfer, plus balance transfer fees, cannot exceed your assigned spending limit.
• Credit Score Needed: 0% credit cards for refinancing almost always require good or excellent credit for approval. So make sure to check your credit score.
• Required Info: The dollar amount you want transferred and information (e.g. account number) about the account you’re transferring the balance from.
• Timeline: Credit card balance transfers often need to be completed within 60 days of opening an account to get the best terms. The 0% period starts when the account is opened.

Credit card refinancing can be a smart move for saving money on interest. But don’t let it become a habit, or else you’ll be shuffling debt around endlessly.

Take a look at your existing credit cards and their balances. Larger balances with high interest rates are typically the best ones to transfer, since you can save the most on their interest. Then figure out what monthly payments you can afford and how long you’ll need to pay down the transferred balance. A credit card calculator can be very helpful in this regard, making it clear which credit card refinancing option will best meet your needs.

In general, the best credit card for refinancing will have a $0 transfer fee and a long 0% APR intro period. That will help get you down the path of being debt free for good.

The best 0% APR travel credit card is Discover it Miles. It offers a 0% APR on purchases for your first 14 months of card membership. And it also gives a reduced rate on balance transfers, with a 10.99% APR for 14 months. That’s about the longest introductory period you’ll see on a travel card, which focus more on rewards than financing. 

That said, there are other travel cards with 0% APRs on purchases. Some have 0% balance transfers, too, like the Frontier Airlines card. Other cards, like Amex Blue Cash Preferred, aren’t necessarily focused on travel but combine great rewards with 0% APRs and thus could be useful.

Here are the best 0% APR travel credit cards:

• Discover it Miles: 0% purchase APR for 14 months. 
  10.99% balance transfer APR for 14 months (3% fee). 1.5 miles per $1 on all purchases. First year’s miles matched. No annual fee. No foreign transaction fee. Good credit needed.
• Capital One VentureOne: 0% purchase APR for 12 months. 
  20,000 bonus miles for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months. 10 miles per $1 at hotels.com/venture, and 1.25 miles per $1 on all other purchases. No annual fee. No foreign transaction fee. Good credit needed.
• Bank of America Travel Rewards: 0% purchase APR for 12 months. 
  20,000 bonus points when you spend $1,000 in the first 90 days. 3 points per $1 at the Bank of America Travel Center, 1.5 everywhere else. 10% additional points if you have a Bank of America checking or savings account. No annual fee. No foreign transaction fee. Excellent credit needed.
• Frontier Airlines Credit Card with No Annual Fee: 0% balance transfer APR for 15 months (3% fee).
  10,000 bonus miles for making your first purchase (no required timeframe). 1 mile per $1 on Frontier Airlines purchases, 1 mile per $2 everywhere else. No annual fee. 3% foreign transaction fee. Miles don’t expire as long as you use your card every 6 months. Good credit needed.
• JetBlue Card: 0% balance transfer APR for 12 months (3% fee).
  10,000 bonus miles for spending $1,000 in the first 90 days. 3 points per $1 on JetBlue purchases, 2 at restaurants and grocery stores, 1 everywhere else. Share points with Family Pooling. 50% savings on in-flight purchases. No annual fee. No foreign transaction fee. Good credit needed.
  
• Amex Blue Cash Preferred: 0% purchase APR for 12 months. 0% balance APR for 12 months (3% fee). 
  $200 statement credit for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months. 6% cash back on your first $6,000 at U.S. supermarkets, 3% on gas and at select department stores, 1% on everything else. $95 annual fee. 2.7% foreign transaction fee. Good credit needed.
• China Airlines Credit Card with No Annual Fee: 0% balance transfer APR for 6 months (5% fee).
  500 bonus miles for making your first purchase in the first 3 billing cycles. 1 mile per $1 on China Airlines purchases, 1 mile per $2 everywhere else. No annual fee. No foreign transaction fee. Good credit needed.

If you’re looking to finance an upcoming trip, Discover it Miles is probably your best bet, since it’ll give you the longest amount of time before interest kicks in.

A 0% APR means that you pay no interest on new purchases and/or balance transfers for a certain period of time. The best 0% APR credit cards give 15-18 months without interest. But the average 0% APR intro period is about 10.5 months for cards offering 0% purchases. And it’s around 12 months for the average card with 0% on transfers.

A 0% APR does not mean you are excused from monthly payments, nor does it mean interest is completely out of the equation. You still have to make monthly minimum payments to keep your 0% APR. And if you don’t pay off your balance by the end of the 0% intro period, you’ll have to pay interest on whatever balance remains. The penalty is even worse with many retailers’ 0% financing offers. If you don’t pay off your full balance in time, interest will retroactively apply to your entire original balance – as if the 0% APR was never there.

There are a few other things you should keep in mind when thinking about 0% APRs, too.

Here’s what a 0% APR means for you:

• You pay no interest on your purchases and/or balance transfers for 2 to 21 months, depending on the card.
• 0% APRs make debt cheaper to pay off, which helps you get out of debt faster.
• A 0% APR does not free you from the responsibility of making monthly payments. You must pay at least your monthly minimum to avoid being classified as late. Late payments damage your credit score.
• Zero percent credit cards tend to have fairly high regular APRs. So you should strive to bring your balance to zero by the end of the 0% APR period, when regular rates take effect.

Hi!  This is a great question. You are in an enviable situation in that you HAVE the money to pay off your credit card debt that charges no interest for a time. You are correct in saying that you need to make sure that you make the monthly payment each month on time – if you are late or don’t pay, you could get hit with interest charges and penalties – be sure to know what the rules are.  It sounds like you really have it all together and are unlikely to miss or pay a minimum payment late, but mistakes and oversights do happen even with the most careful people, so you want to keep on top of the payments.

Another consideration is if misfortune strikes sometime between now and the time when the 0% interest period ends. If at that point you no longer have $4000 to pay the balance off, you may get hit with high rates going forward and penalties. It could also be that you have the money but get confused on the dates and don’t pay off on time. Once I went to pay a credit card bill online and I paid it at 3:30 pm not realizing that after 3 pm for that card meant the money was credited the next day. I was charged a late fee that I was unsuccessful in negotiating away. I now pay things a full day before they are due or sooner! Once bitten, twice shy!

A third potential problem is that some charges may not be part of the 0% deal. Clair Tsosie explains: “To find out how much you’ll pay in other situations, you’ll have to read what’s known as the Schumer box, a black-and-white table typically included in credit card offers. These are a few of the different APRs sometimes listed in the Schumer box that may not be covered by a 0% APR offer: Balance transfer APR:If you transfer a balance from another card to a 0% APR card, you’ll typically have to pay a separate interest rate on that in addition to a balance transfer fee. Cash advance APR:Generally, you have to pay a much higher APR for cash advances than other types of transactions, along with a fee. Penalty APR:If your good credit card habits fall by the wayside, you might find yourself stuck with a sky-high penalty APR. Actions that might trigger this include making no minimum payment within 60 days, exceeding your credit limit or making a payment that doesn’t go through.”

A fourth concern is that having debt could temporarily push your credit score/ FICO score down. If you aren’t needing to borrow and aren’t looking for jobs or in the hunt for other things or activities where your credit score matters, that may not be a problem. But it is worth considering.

So in conclusion, it could be a great way to let your $4000 work for you in a CD or other interest bearing situation – you just want to be sure not to make a mistake and end up paying more than you make.  Best wishes and thanks for writing!

There are quite a few cards with that intro APR, like Wells Fargo Platinum or Citi Simplicity. As far as credit limit goes, it will come down to your income, and overall creditworthiness, so there's no precise answer to your question.