Once upon a time, when credit was easy and banks were giving money away, at least one credit card company offered a 0% APR on balance transfers for life. A recent email inquiry led me to investigate whether or not such offers still exist. What I found was, well, a lot of confused and persistent rumors.

Let me begin. Many web forums have discussions about these 0% for life credit cards. If what they say is true, Discover once offered a 0% APR for life on balance transfers. The one condition was that a person made monthly purchases which would be charged the standard interest rate. The most recent postings about these offers stem from early 2005, with most of them coming earlier.

Now, perhaps these offers did exists then. I couldn’t imagine anyone on the internet making something up. So I called Discover to find out if I could get a 0% for life. And then I called them again. And again. And again.

In total, I logged a lucky eleven calls to Discover, all of which garnered the same answer: NO.

Apparently, no one knows about the card and no one remembers it. And, as one customer service rep put it, “that’s the worst business idea I’ve ever heard.”

So it seems the 0% for life credit card is about as real as that UK lottery I win two or three times a week. No credit card, especially in the current environment, wants to be in the business of giving money away. We’re lucky we can still get 0% APRs on purchases and balance transfers for a year.

Unfortunately, I would suggest to those looking to get a 0% APR for life to give up the wild goose chase. If you want a 0% APR for life, keep your credit good and take advantage of introductory rates. That’s as close as any of us mere mortals can hope for.

For more information on all current 0% APR credit cards, you can compare offers in the credit card comparison section of Smart Balance Transfers.