Customers can save money by using balance transfer credit cards

It is no secret that the balance transfer credit cards provide borrowers and credit card holders a great chance to consolidate all their credit card debt into one account and thereby save money. Balance transfer credit cards are also being used as a great strategy by some of the card issuers, who are willing to offer very attractive offers to customers, to bring them over to use their credit card instead. Some of the balance transfer offers are quite attractive and therefore help customers save a lot of money; others however could be slightly deceptive. It is up to the customer to take a call on whether to go for the balance transfer based on the deal or whether to stick to their original credit card.

One of the cards that offer a 0% APR during the introductory period for a balance transfer is the Capital One Platinum Prestige credit card. The 0% interest rate is applicable on the balance transferred as well as all purchases made until December 2011. This provides the customers with an opportunity to transfer their balance to this card, and also make purchases on it going forward, while they escape interest on their debt until December of this year. This card also offers a few more benefits apart from the 0% introductory offer. The card doesn’t charge any annual fee for the customers. There is also a 24 hour roadside assistance, for customers who has the feature, in case of an emergency while travelling by road. There is also a travel accident insurance offered by this credit card.

Once the introductory period is over, the APR for the card will vary between 10.9% and 18.9% depending upon the credit scores of the applicants. Although a reduction in the volume of credit card usage was seen in recent times, there has been an increase in holiday sales compared to last year. A greater part of this sales increase was also from credit card transactions. Credit card users had some benefits during holiday shopping. Among them was the cash back incentives.

Citi Platinum Select MasterCard, is another credit card that offers a 0% APR for an initial period of 12 months for purchases, and for 24 months for the balance transfers.

Doug Nicholas

Doug Nicholas, a financial consultant by profession with a Masters degree in International Business from Brown University, is also an ardent writer. Though he has a full time job at one of the companies listed on Wall Street, he does manage to squeeze in time to follow his passion. He puts his ideas to words in his articles related to finance and business.