The best 0% credit cards

0% credit cards are extremely useful tools. They can enable you to borrow at 0%, and you can also spread out the cost of a big purchase.

If you’re carrying a big debt on your credit card, or you’re contemplating making a big purchase, or both, a 0% credit card could be just the thing for you.

In this article, we’re going to look at the best 0% cards on the market today. Let’s start with 0% new purchase cards.

0% new purchase cards

As it happens, I’m about to apply for a 0% purchase card. I’m going to be moving house soon, and I’ll need to buy some new furniture, so a new 0% card will help me a lot.

Let’s say I spend £2000 on new items for the house. If I use a 0% card for those purchases, I won’t have to pay any interest on that £2000 debt for the card’s 0% period. And that period could last as long as 16 months!

Here is a table with the current top 0% new purchase cards:

The Tesco card is the most attractive in many ways as it offers the longest 0% period and also gives you Clubcard points. But if you already have a Tesco card, your next best bets are either the Halifax card or the M&S Credit Card. The M&S card is especially attractive if you’re a big Marks & Spencer shopper.

Before you rush to apply for a card, I should highlight three potential catches:

- Don’t get carried away and spend more than you can afford. Make sure that you can pay off the debt at the end of the 0% period – otherwise you’ll be hit by high interest charges.

- You must make your minimum repayment for the card every month on time. If you’re late with a payment, your card provider could withdraw the 0% offer immediately and start charging you interest.

- The 0% period begins when you take out the card, not when you make the purchase.

0% balance transfer cards

If you’ve got a big debt on your credit card, shift it to a 0% balance transfer card and you won’t have to pay any interest on the debt for as long as 23 months! The only cost is a balance transfer fee.

So when you’re comparing balance transfer cards, you need to look at how long the 0% period is, and how high the fee is. Here are the cards with the longest 0% periods.

For most people, the Barclaycard 22 Month Platinum card is probably the best bet. Yes, there are two other cards offering slightly longer 0% periods, but the 22-month Platinum card only has a 2.6% fee, which makes it very attractive.

If you think you won’t need such a long 0% period, there are other cards with lower fees and shorter 0% periods. Here are the best ones:

So if you went for the Fluid Card rather than the Barclaycard 23 Month Platinum card, you’d save £26 on a £2000 transfer. That’s a very attractive saving – as long as you’re sure you can pay off your debt in 15 months rather than 23 months.

Average credit rating

Sadly, some people won’t be able to get any of the cards we’ve highlighted in this article so far. That’s because the credit card companies are only willing to give these cards to people with good credit ratings.

However, if your credit rating is only ‘average’, there are a couple of cards that might be worth applying for. The Capital One Balance Card Visa offers an eight month interest-free period with a 3% fee while the Barclaycard Gold Visa has a nine-month 0% period with a 2.5% fee.

And finally….

There are a couple of cards that will give you great 0% periods for both new purchases and balance transfers.

The Halifax All in One MasterCard won’t charge any interest on balance transfers for 15 months, and it won’t charge any interest on new purchases for 15 months as well. The Barclaycard 14/14 Platinum Visa is very similar except its two 0% periods are for 14 months.

The idea of a combined 0% card is quite appealing, but if you think you’d like one, you need to be extra careful that you don’t spend too much. If you’re already carrying a big credit card debt, you should resist temptation to make it too much bigger.