One Monday morning, after observing an advert on television about a 0% interest rate credit card, it was not soon after a huge buzz around this product emerged. Everyone thought they had jumped on the next big thing like they were as financially astute as Peter Sutherland. Some of the credit cards start with the so-called rope you in interest rate.This mainly means credit cards that offer no interest for even more than 12 months.
Enjoying an initial zero percent on a credit card can be a fantastic deal but you’ll need to be careful very careful. One misstep and you can wave goodbye to the interest free period. Make sure you check the small print. Check to see whether zero percent refers to balance transfers or purchases. When does the introductory period end? Will the interest shoot up after this period? You always need to question how trustworthy the offer seems.
If your spending can quickly spiral out of control you need to be careful with this card you can follow your spending urges but only for a particular duration of time. Writing checks or making ATM purchases that total more than you have in your checking account can have grim consequences. As well as the embarrassment of collecting a bounced check from the merchant it was written to there are the high fees a bank charged when this happens. To help avoid such problems, most banks have developed various Overdraft Protection programs. Such schemes like the payments protection scheme are widely seen as bad value for money.
Courtesy overdraft-protection plans often come as part of a strategy by the financial institution to squeeze more money out of you. There has been a lot of bad press surrounding such PPC schemes which are often put on without the customers knowledge.