The basic tenet of credit cards is simple: It’s best to pay your bill in full at the end of each cycle because you’ll pay a hefty interest fee on any balance you carry. How much interest depends on your credit score, but it can be well over 20%. That would obliterate the value of any rewards you earn and potentially land you in a deepening debt spiral. But there’s an exception to that rule: 0% APR cards. These powerful financial tools offer intro periods for up to two years, allowing you to carry a balance without paying interest.
On top of these enticing interest-free intro periods, these cards often offer balance transfers, allowing you to shift debt from a high-interest card to a no-interest card. You’ll pay a fee for these transfers, but it’s usually much lower than the interest you’d have to pay on the balance, making them a strategic way to manage credit card debt.
That said, 0% APR cards do charge high interest rates after their intro periods expire. So, instead of using them as a way to avoid paying your debts, you’ll need a plan to tackle your balance before the 0% APR promotion expires.
Ahead, we’ve selected a few of the best credit cards with no-interest introductory periods, whether you want cash back, travel rewards, simply a place to park your high-interest debt or a way to make a big-ticket purchase with a lot of time to pay it off.
