0 Percent Apr Credit Cards For The Holidays
With the holiday season approaching, its time to start looking for a 0% APR credit card to help save money on your gift purchases. The benefits of credit cards that offer 0% interest rates are numerous. For starters, you can defer credit card interest for a full year. If you use your current credit card for purchases and don’t intend to pay your bill in full, you could end up paying 15% more than the ticket price. With a new 0% interest credit card, you can not only avoid the interest, but even profit by putting the money you would use to repay your credit card into a high yielding savings account.
Here’s an example of how much you can save. Let’s say you spend $1000 on gifts. Over the course of a year, you would end up paying over $150 in interest on an average credit card. Plus, if you use a store credit card, you could end up paying over $200 in interest on your new purchases. Why? Interest rates on store credit cards are, on the average, 30% higher than regular credit cards.
In addition to the money you can save on interest with a 0% credit card, cash back rewards programs offer additional ways to boost holiday savings. Cash back credit cards reward you for every dollar you spend. While most cash back credit cards offer 1% cash back, there are a number of cards that offer up to 5% cash back. Additionally, there are a number of current promotions that provide special cash back rewards just for applying for a new credit card.
Let’s examine one situation where a new 0% credit card with cash back rewards can save you $250 or more. For this example, we’ll use a cash back credit card that offers a 0% APR for 1 year, 1% rewards and a $40 cash back bonus. Assuming you won’t pay your new charges off, the 0% introductory rate will provide between $150 to $200 in interest savings. We’ll use the modest $150. Add to that a $40 cash back bonus and your savings are now $190. Factor in 1% cash back and your total savings is now $200.
To increase your savings, you can put the $1000 you would have used to pay off your credit card into a high yield savings account or CD. With interest rates around 5%, that can add another $50 to your savings, bringing the grand total to $250.
In order to have your new credit card in hand in time for the holidays, it is important to apply for a 0% APR credit card as soon as possible. As the holidays near, the time it takes for a credit card to arrive in the mail increases dramatically, giving you less time to take advantage of early shopping deals.
About the Author: The author has written extensively on the subject of credit cards since 2004. He is the President of Credit Card Depot Inc, an online credit card information company
To learn more or apply online for the 0% APR credit card, including cash back credit cards, visit Credit Card Depot.
Tags: 0 apr credit card, apply credit card, cash back bonus, cash back credit card