When you’re applying online for a 0% balance transfer, there are a few areas of the application that you should examine particularly close. Here’s a rundown on what to look for on a balance transfer application.

1.) Duration of the 0% APR balance transfer period: Most credit cards that advertise 0% APR balance transfers for a year give approved customers a 0% APR for 1 year. However, some credit card companies offer consumers a shorter duration on balance transfers if they do not meet certain credit requirements. To be sure you will be offered 0% for 1 year, check the rate information in the terms and conditions of the application.

2.) What the 0% APR applies to: Some credit cards offer a 0% rate on purchases and balance transfers, while others offer a 0% rate on one or the other. If you will be using your credit card for purchases, be sure you are applying for a credit card that offers a 0% interest rate on balance transfers as well as purchases. If the credit card does not offer 0% interest on both, any purchases you make will be charged a higher interest rate and all payments you make will reduce the balance at 0%, not the higher interest rate.

3.) Default Terms: Default, in a nutshell, is an action that voids your 0% interest rate. It is vitally important to pay your 0% balance transfer credit card on time every month. Failure to do so will void your special interest rate and elevate your APR to a standard rate.

4.) Balance Transfer Fees: While a small handful of credit cards offer no fee balance transfers, the majority charge a 3% fee. Of the credit cards that do charge a balance transfer fee, the usual maximum is the greater of 3% or $75. However, some credit cards do not impose a dollar limit on balance transfer fees. In the fees section of the terms and conditions, be sure the application lists a maximum fee. (This applies more to individuals transferring more than $2500, as that is when the $75 balance transfer fee threshold is crossed.)

Overall, 0% APR balance transfers are a great way to save money. Heck, I’ve got a whole website devoted to them. Just be sure to check the fine print before applying and, of course, apply online at Smart Balance Transfers.

In a previous post, I discussed a credit card mail offer that came with cash advance and balance transfer checks. Here, I will discuss these tempting deals.

First off, there is a huge difference between a balance transfer check and a cash advance check. Most balance transfer checks offer a 0% APR for up to 1 year, then charge a standard interest rate around 15%. Cash advance checks, however, tend to charge a much higher interest rate once the introductory period ends, generally somewhere in the low to mid 20% range.

A second issue with balance transfer checks and cash advance checks are the fees. Most balance transfer offers online charge a 3% balance transfer fee with a maximum fee of $75. This means that a $10,000 balance transfer will cost $75. Balance transfer and cash advance checks often do not cap the fee, meaning the same balance transfer or cash advance would cost $300.

A final issue I’ve discussed before related to balance transfer checks you get for a credit card you currently have a balance on. The checks you receive in the mail may offer a 0% APR for 1 year, but if you already have a balance, your payments will go towards reducing the balance being charged no interest, not the high interest balance you already have on the card.

What do I do with cash advance and balance transfer checks? I put them in the shredder. If you want to transfer a high interest balance and save money with a 0% interest rate, your best bet is to apply for a new credit card that offers a 0% interest rate on balance transfers. You can compare current 0% APR balance transfers on this site and apply online for instant approval.

Yesterday’s mail brought an offer for the Fidelity Investment Rewards Visa from FIA Card Services. Like many mail offers, this credit card offered a special 0% introductory APR for cash advance checks and balance transfers. The online url for the Fidelity offer was www.newcardonline.com, which is used for a number of Bank of America credit card mail offers. What separates this particular mail offer from most that offer cash advance checks is the fact that its actually a good deal. Yes, a cash advance credit card offer is actually good.

I reviewed the application at www.newcardonline.com and found that the interest rate on both cash advances and balance transfers was 0% for 1 year, and then only 14.99% thereafter. While 14.99% is not the greatest APR available, it is very low for cash advances.

There was a slight catch. If you used an ATM to make a cash advance, the cash advance rate would be 24.99%, or nearly twice that of the cash advance checks. So if you accept this offer, be sure to use the cash advance checks, and not the ATM.

As far as cash advance credit cards go, this one is pretty good. As to balance transfers, this is not the best offer in the world. In fact, it is not very good at all. As usual, I searched out the balance transfer fee information in the fine print. And what I found actually surprised me. The fine print stated, “Balance transfers are subject to transaction fees in the amount of 3% of the transaction (min $10).” What’s missing from this disclosure? The maximum fee. Or, in other words, there is no cap on the fees you can be charged for a balance transfer. (The majority of credit cards cap balance transfer fees at $75).

So how does this newcardonline.com offer differ from a standard balance transfer offer. Let’s say you’re making a $10,000 balance transfer. With a standard 0% APR balance transfer credit card, you would spend $75 on balance transfer fees. With this offer, the same balance transfer would cost $300. That’s quite a difference.

Overall, the Fidelity Investment Rewards Visa is a great deal for a 0% APR cash advance, and a bad deal for transferring large balances.

In this blog, I’ve written extensively about no fee balance transfer credit cards. This time last year, there were a number of credit cards that offered 0% APR no fee balance transfers as well as a 0% APR on purchases for 1 year. Today, there is only one credit card that offers 0% no fee balance transfers and a 0% APR on purchases, and that offer is only for 6 months.

The problem with credit cards that offer just a 0% APR on balance transfers lay in the fact that if you use your no fee card for purchases, you are charged the standard, significantly higher interest rate. Or, you end up using your previous credit card and racking up a high interest balance. Either way, you don’t get to take advantage of a 1 year interest holiday.

Knowing this, I am of the opinion that the Discover More Card is currently the best balance transfer credit card on the market. My opinion is shaped by two important factors. The first, and most important, is that this card offers a 0% APR on balance transfers and purchases. This makes it possible to avoid paying interest for a full year. The second factor that influenced my opinion is a promotion Discover is running that gives new cardmembers a $40 cash back bonus if they spend $500. With the holidays approaching, it should be very easy for just about anyone to get this cash back bonus.

Now, even though this credit card charges a 3% balance transfer fee, the $40 cash back bonus offsets the cost of transferring $1300, essentially making that a no fee balance transfer. Plus, with the cap on balance transfer fees set at $75 regardless of the size of the balance transfer, the maximum balance transfer fee one would pay to transfer $5000 is $35, or .007%.

Clearly, this is not much of a fee. And if you consider the amount of money the 0% APR on purchases can save you over the course of the year, the Discover More balance transfer offer clearly stands out as the best balance transfer deal available this holiday season.

Here’s a nasty little credit card trick that gently treads the line between vulgarity and criminality: some credit cards that offer 0% APR balance transfers for 1 year also offer 0% rates for 3 months. That’s right: THREE MONTHS. In the past, this nasty trick was deeply buried in the fine print. Fortunately, the lawyers must have decided this was too dirty for even credit card companies, and is now clearly disclosed by the perpetrators.

This is the basic deal. The credit card advertises a 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 1 year. Individuals that have very good and excellent credit are granted the promoted 0% rate. That’s great for them. But what about those with average credit. They get the second tier offer, which is 0% for 3 months on just balance transfers.

As unfair as this practice is, the dirtiest trick in this process is the enticement to transfer balances. Let’s say you don’t have the greatest credit and you’re looking to transfer a balance from a credit card with a 15% interest rate. You apply for one these cards and, while completing the application, opt to transfer $2000. First, you get charged a 3% balance transfer fee. That will cost you $60. Then, after a lovely 3 months, you find yourself getting charged the same exact interest rate you had on your old credit card. In the end, you might end up saving $20. But in worst case scenarios, you could get slapped with a higher interest rate on your new card than you had with your previous card. If that happens, your money saving balance transfer will actually cost you money.

Fortunately, avoiding this balance transfer trick is fairly simple. Just review the terms on the online application and make sure there is only one introductory rate offer.

You can review offers and apply online for a 0% APR balance transfer on this site. Just remember: READ THE FINE PRINT.

The list of available no fee balance transfer credit cards is technically longer than it has been in recent months, as a major credit card company is offering no fee transfers on just about all of its cards. However, these no fee balance transfer offers do not come with a 0% APR. In fact, some of these card have APR’s as high as 19%. I won’t name name’s (hint: they’re not from lowercase 1), but these no fee balance transfers offers are probably the worst I’ve ever seen. If you’re going with a no fee balance transfer, stick to the cards that still offer 0% rates. You can view offers and apply for no fee balance transfers in the no fee section of Smart Balance Transfers.

For my first post, I figured I’d exposed one of the more atrocious tricks credit card companies play: offering a fixed APR or 0% APR balance transfer to a customer who has a balance on their card.

Here’s how the trick works. We’ll assume we’ve got a $2000 balance on credit card one getting charged 15% interest and another $2000 on credit card two at the same rate. A mail offer from credit card company one offers you a fixed 4.99% APR for life on balance transfers. On the surface, it looks like a good deal: we can reduce our interest rate by 2/3. However, there’s some nasty trickery just below the surface.

First, we’ll start with the fees. 99% of credit cards charge a 3% balance transfer fee. So, to transfer $2000 from card two, it’ll cost $60 upfront. Now, that’s not a terrible deal, since the higher interest rate would have cost us $200 more in interest over the course of the year ($140 when you factor in the fee). However, once the balance is transferred, the real trickery begins.

If you look at the fine print of the 30 page disclosures pamphlet credit card companies are required to send you every time they make a change to their terms and conditions, you’ll discover that any time you make a payment, the payment will be credited towards the balance on your credit card with the LOWEST INTEREST RATE. When we transferred our balance to the low fixed rate, we agreed that all our payments will reduce the balance being charged 4.99% interest.

What does this mean? Well, let’s say we decide to pay off $2000 of our debt. We’ve just eliminated the entire low APR balance and now have $2000 of debt being charged 15% interest. Not only are we right back where we started, we’ve wasted $60 in balance transfer fees.

Is this practice atrocious? Yes. Detestable? Clearly. Legal? 100%. Avoidable? Now it is.