Best 0% Interest Credit Cards: 0% APR for up to 21 Months

Credit cards that advertise 0% introductory APR offers can help you save some cash as you pay down large purchases, consolidate debt, or both. However, you need to make sure you read all the fine print.

Where some 0% APR credit cards extend their intro APR to purchases only, others only let you skip interest on balance transfers. And either way, 0% APR offers are only good for a limited period of time. After your introductory period is up, your interest rate will revert to your card’s purchase APR, which is almost always on the high side.

If you’re searching for the best card with a 0% intro APR on new purchases or balance transfers, you should look closely at each offer and details like their introductory period and cardholder perks. To help in your search, we compared the best zero-interest credit cards on the market today to find the best of the best.

Why should you care about your credit card’s interest rate?

If you are wondering why you should care about your credit card’s interest rate, it can help to understand what a credit card APR is and why it matters.

Ultimately, your card’s APR (annual percentage rate) represents the price you’ll pay when you use your card to carry a balance from month-to-month. While you can avoid credit card interest by paying your balance in full each month, your card’s APR will make everything you buy cost more if you decide to carry debt.

While 0% APR cards can help you skip interest altogether for the short-term, a low-interest credit card can be useful for those seeking long-term interest savings. However, other types of credit, including personal loans, typically come with lower interest rates than credit cards.

How much can you save with a 0% APR credit card?

How much you’ll save with a low-interest credit card depends on several important factors:

• How much debt you plan to carry from month-to-month
• The length of your card’s intro APR period
• Your credit card’s intro APR
• Your creditworthiness and approval odds for the best cards
• Balance transfer fees (if applicable)

While plenty of variables can impact your savings, consider this example:

Imagine you are someone who has $5,000 in credit card debt on a card with a 19% APR. You’re currently paying $300 per month in order to pay down your balances as quickly as possible, but your card’s high interest rate is impeding your progress.

Now let’s say you transferred this debt to a card with 0% APR. You would pay a 3% balance transfer fee upfront, which means you would start with a new debt balance of $5,150.

If you paid the same $300 per month you were paying before and never paid your bill late, you would become entirely debt-free in less than 18 months. This means the total cost of paying off your debt equals $150 — the cost of your balance transfer fee.

If you never consolidated your debt, on the other hand, paying $300 a month would require you to make payments for 20 months before you were debt-free. In the meantime, your card issuer would charge you $752 in additional interest payments.

Credit card APRs explained

You may be aware that your credit card charges different APRs, but you should also know when different interest rates are applied.

By learning about the different credit card APRs and when they might come into play, you can take steps to avoid interest charges altogether.

• Purchase APR
  A purchase APR applies to new purchases you charge to your card provided you don’t pay your bill in full during your credit card’s grace period (the time between the end of your card’s billing cycle and your due date).
• Balance transfer APR
  A balance transfer APR applies to balances you transfer from other credit cards and loans. These APRs are offered on a temporary basis.
• Introductory APR
  Each Intro APR is offered on a temporary basis, and they can apply to purchases, balance transfers, or both.
• Cash Advance APR
  A cash advance APR can apply when you use your credit card to get cash from an ATM. This APR can also apply if you use cash advance checks your credit card issuer sends in the mail.
• Penalty APR
  You may be charged a penalty APR if you pay your credit card bill past its due date, or if you let your account fall into default. This APR is always higher than other interest charges your card charges.

Reasons to get a 0% APR credit card

There are myriad reasons to pick up a credit card with 0% APR, and more than one can apply to your situation.

Here are the main reasons you should consider a zero-interest card:

You want to consolidate other debts

If you have high-interest debts to consolidate from other cards, a 0% APR credit card can help. Just remember that balance transfer fees apply and that you need to have a plan to pay down all or most of your balance before your introductory period ends.

You have a large purchase coming up

Maybe you need to buy new appliances or furniture and you want to spread out the payments over more than a year. In that case, a credit card with 0% APR on purchases can work as a short-term loan with no interest charges required.

You may need to carry a balance in the near future

Maybe money is tight, and you’re worried you may need to carry debt for the short term. In that case, a 0% APR credit card could help you save on interest for a limited time.

You want a low-interest credit card just in case

Perhaps you are looking at low-interest-rate credit cards to have just in case. While introductory APR offers won’t last forever, cards with 0% APR can give you some time to pay down debt without having to worry about interest and fees.

How we chose the best 0% APR credit cards

We looked at more than 100 cards from every major issuer in order to find the best cards with 0% APR available today.

Factors we compared include each card’s intro APR, balance transfer APR, and ongoing APR. We also looked at the regular purchase APR that applies after the intro period, and we compared introductory offers based on their length.

Other card issuer factors we looked at include rewards rates, bonus offers, and complimentary credit card perks like free FICO scores, cell phone insurance, and roadside assistance.