CreditCards.com features a balance transfer calculator that allows you to see what the costs are.
More generous zero percent offers may last for 12 to 18 months. Look carefully before making your decision.
The timing associated with a low-interest-rate credit card deal is especially critical if what you're really being offered is a deferred interest card, as opposed to a zero percent interest card.
The Federal Trade Commission has shut down at least a half-dozen credit card scams that falsely promised unsuspecting consumers zero percent or low-rate credit card balance transfers. Instead, those consumers got fleeced, authorities say.
In one scheme, a company called National Card Monitor LLC charged people between $499 and $599 in up-front fees in exchange for allegedly securing a lower-rate credit card on the customer's behalf. National Card Monitor even offered a "100 percent money back guarantee."
The problem was that the low-rate credit cards touted by the company never materialized. When customers tried to get refunds, they were stonewalled.
The lesson? Avoid paying up-front fees for any product or service. And be sure to read the fine print of any credit card offer before agreeing to the deal.
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