Zero Percent Transfer Fee Cards

Best Credit Card Offers This Week

Digital News Report - Americans are always looking to save money, and many do so through the use of credit cards. Cash back and balance transfer cards are a good alternative to coupons and home equity loans.

credit card cash back offer cardholders the opportunity to save money on all or part of their purchases. It's like getting a discount or using a coupon.

Chase Freedom Visa ® - $ 150 Bonus Cash Back Card offers users the opportunity to get 5% cash back on classes of rotation.Each quarter, the category changes, then use the card to purchase specific products at certain times of year can really pay off.

From 1 April until the end of June, cardholders can save 5% on home and garden products. This means you can save money at Home Depot, Lowes or other home improvement stores.

From July to September, Cardmembers can save money on travel, gas and hotels. This is a five percent savings through the travel season.

From October to December users can record stores and charities.

Even if the purchase is made on other products outside of the season, owners will still get 1% cash. See Chase for more details.

transfer cards balance allow consumers to transfer balances from other cards to a card zero percent interest for an introductory period.

Capital One ® Platinum Prestige card has an introductory period until July 2012. After the interest rate is 10.9% to 18.9% variable. Cardholders can make payments and pay zero percent interest on purchases and balance transfers. What a deal.

The Federal Reserve reported that revolving debt is declining. The amount of credit card debt outstanding decreased by 4.1% in February (annualized). The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) believes interest rates will rise until 2011.

New 0-percent credit card offers are in the mail, but with higher fees

In the six weeks or so since I started keeping and counting the offers I received rather than trashing them, I’ve collected eight, some offering cash back or other rewards, but all of them using zero percent as bait for signing up.

The catch—and there usually is one, despite consumer-friendly improvements brought about by credit card reform legislation enacted last year—is that you’re likely to pay higher fees for transferring balances to these cards with zero percent rates. A recent study conducted by the Pew Health Group analyzed 450 online card offers and found that the average balance transfer fee charged by the nation’s largest banks rose from 3 percent of the amount transferred in July 2009 to 4 percent in March 2010.

So before you take the zero percent bait, do the math to see what it’s going to cost you in fees if you’re transferring a balance.  You also may save money by going with a teaser rate on a card offered by a credit union.  As we’ve reported in Consumer Reports Money Adviser , qualifying to obtain such cards is easier than it used to be . The Pew study found that the average balance transfer fee on credit union cards was only 2.50 percent, the same as it was back in July 2009. And while the median period for which teaser rates applied on bank cards was seven months, the study found it was 24 months for credit union cards.