A handy guide from CardWeb on where to find the best 0% APR deals:
Bank |
2003 Offer |
2004 Offer |
1. Citibank |
16 months (B) |
15 months (B) |
2. MBNA |
12 months (P+C) |
11 months (B+C) |
3. Bank One |
12 months (P+B) |
11 months (P+B) |
4. JPM Chase |
12 months (P+B) |
12 months (B) |
5. Discover |
11 months (B) |
10 months (B) |
6. Capital One |
6 months (P+B) |
6 months (P+B) |
7. American Express |
6 months (P+B) |
6 months (P+B) |
8. Bank of America |
13 months (P+B) |
none |
9. Providian |
13 months (P) |
9 months (B) |
10. Fleet |
12 months (P+B) |
14 months (P) |
AVG |
11.3 months |
10.4 months |
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B-applies to balance transfers |
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P- applies to new purchases |
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C- applies to cash advances |
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Of course, as 0% offers become more expensive to issuers, the 0% APR period is shortened in most places, and you can rightfully expect some 0% APR deals are not combined with other perks like cashback rewards.
A few more words: if you keep a revolving balance, the value of the 0% APR offer is worth the following to you: B * APR * L / 12 - F, where:
B is the amount of balance you will transfer,
APR is the current APR for the balance,
L is the length of the 0% APR offer in month, and
F is the balance transfer fee associated.
In addition, you may not want to make purchase during the 0% offer period unless the 0% APR offer applies to both purchase and balance transfer, because any payback to the card will be used to reduce 0% APR-related balance first.
If you don't have a balance to transfer (like me), the value of the offer can be much less. I opt for putting the money to a saving account generating 2.15% annual yield for both liquidity and safety of capital.