It can't be avoided credit cards play a major role in our financial lives. Almost everyone these days owns and uses a credit card. They are more convenient than having to carry cash around, they are good for emergencies and on the whole are quite secure. The only down side to credit cards is that if you have a balance on your card at the end of the month you get charged interest.
If you find you use your card often and don't always pay off the balance each month you will find you are being charged interest. Whilst for small balances this may only add up to a few pounds each month but this can soon add up. On larger balances some people may find their card payments are getting out of control and find they are getting charged a substantial amount each month in interest. You soon find you are struggling just to pay the minimum payments.
You can however avoid the credit trap by using credit cards with 0 interest, these are credit cards that offer a zero interest free period when you apply for a new card. Not having to pay interest for a period of time on purchases means you can save a large amount of money.
So what do you do if you have an existing credit card with a large balance that you are paying interest on. The good news is you can transfer the balance to a new card that offer 0 interest free periods for the life of the balance no matter how long it takes you to pay it off. This means that you are just paying off what you initial spent on your card in the first place and you will not be burdened with additional interest.
Now for the warning
As we mentioned before credit cards with interest free periods are great idea, why pay additional interest charges when you don't have to. Isn't that money better being spent on yourself rather than handing it over to a credit card company.
You have to be careful when choosing a new credit card, don't be distracted by the headline offers and be sure to check the small print. No one like to read the terms and conditions but make sure you at least glance at them to make sure there are no hidden traps that will hit you later.
One thing you can do is make sure you have two separate credit cards. This sounds strange but many card companies count on you transferring the balance of your old card to the new 0 interest card and then using the new card to make new purchases. Don't do this as you will end up in the same situation you are in now.
What you have to do is find two new interest free credit cards, one card to transfer the balance of your old card and another to use for new purchases. If you do this you can use one card just to pay off the balance of the transfer without getting charged interest. I'd recommend looking for a card that offers a lifetime zero interest period till you pay off the balance. The second card will be used for new purchases so look for a card that offers a long interest free period on new purchases, this way you save money on credit card interest.
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