0 APR credit card

You might agree with me that the credit card market is an absolute maze today. There is such a proliferation of banks offering credit cards and there is also a lot of choice in the kinds of credit cards available. Unlike before when you had to request a bank for a credit card, the trend is now greatly changed. You must have observed that it is the banks representatives that are now perusing the customers for opening credit card accounts. And the marketing guys are promising all kinds of things to the customers, whether it is 0 APR credit card, or may be reduced annual charges. There are all kinds of freebies being rolled out to the customers in order to entice them into buying credit cards.

So even before you fall into fall for any such offer, it is important to understand the concept of APR. It is an acronym that stands for Annual Percentage Rate. APR basically refers to the average annual interest charged by the bank upon your amount that remains payable beyond the due date of your credit card bill. That is the amount that is considered as a loan by the bank. APR also includes other charges levied by the bank.

Normally the APR for credit cards is very high. Therefore if any bank is offering you a zero APR credit card, you should surely consider it. But then all the same, do consider other factors as well while going for any such offer. Normally when a bank offers zero APR, it comes with certain other riders that may not be acceptable to you. For example, the annual charges may be higher than usual.

So what is it that you can do?

The first thing to do is to thoroughly check the brochures. Concentrate on the terms and conditions that are generally in the fine print. A number of credit card disputes occur because the consumer has not studied the terms and conditions thoroughly. It is also a good idea to read through the brochures of competing banks for a comparative idea. Also consider that APR may be variable, which means that the bank reserves the right to increase the APR at their discretion. If that is the case, then make sure that the terms make it compulsory for the bank to inform the customer in advance of any such eventuality.

In order to avoid any kind of disputes, keep a record of all communications that you make with the issuing bank. What I do is that I maintain a file for each credit card that I hold. There are times when such a technique proves highly critical. In fact nowadays customers even record telephonic conversations that they do with the bank. It once happened with me that the bank executive promised me on phone that the annual charges will be waived, but yet the invoice included the annual charges. I had a tough time getting them waived off. To avoid such confusion, it is better to record your conversations with the credit card call centre.

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