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The credit crisis has taken its toll on the banks and credit card companies. Recently, Advanta reduced or eliminated its business card accounts because they were losing huge amounts of money. Yet, many companies still offer balance transfers with zero interest from six months to when the entire balance is paid in full. As this credit crunch deepens, many companies will be forced to re-think there marketing strategies. At the present time, however, there are still many good offers from the credit card companies.
 
0 Balance Transfer
 
The most sought after market in the credit card industry focuses on the consumer who maintains a balance and pays on time. Offering a competitor's customer a chance to reduce or eliminate the interest they are paying on their credit cards is prevalent with most companies. Most people who have taken advantage of this opportunity read the details of the offer to make sure there are no hidden balance transfer fees. And the details are important. Most require a fee around 3% of the amount you are moving from one issuer to another. So if you are transferring a balance of $3000 it will cost a one-time fee of $90. There is generally a minimum fee of perhaps $10 for any transaction involving a transfer. There are occasionally 0 credit card offers that eliminate both the minimum and the fee entirely for customers who open up a new account. We're seeing less and less of those promotions.
 
Zero Interest
 
Offering the equivalent of a no interest balance transfer is always a way to attract the savvy customer who often pays cash for everything and maintains a low account balance on credit cards and uses them only because they are a necessity in today's world. However, these cards do come with conditions in most cases. Discover for instance, offered a 0% balance transfer for the life of the balance providing that the cardholder purchase a minimum amount each month to continue to keep the equivalent of no interest. The terms of the agreement usually state that any payments made toward the total balance will be debited to the lowest interest rate balance first. That simply means the minimum amount required to be charged each month continues to add up and continues to accrue interest until the total balance is paid in full. That could add up to a lot of money in interest charges.
 
When the new credit reform act now under discussion by Congress is finally passed and signed by the President, one of the conditions currently being promoted is to eliminate this unfair advantage to the credit card companies and allow the highest interest items to be paid off first. We'll see how that holds up.
 
What To Look For
 
When checking out the 0 balance transfer offers, make sure that you read and understand the details completely. When there is a promotional offer made by the credit card companies, and the consumer accepts it, the terms cannot be changed. Unlike the regular agreement that changes on a regular basis i.e. the interest rate, way of determining the rate, grace period, etc., balance transfer offers remain for the duration of the balance.
 
Currently, there are some interesting offers being made by some of the banks and companies in which you can take advantage of the economic situation if you are a position to do so. Getting the equivalent of zero or low interest rates on your credit card is worth looking into.

Ken Lordis is an expert in finance and business. To find out which cards are offering the best deals and where to get them visit the following website: http://www.bestcreditcardchoice.com
Copyright (C) 2009 Ken Lordis All Rights Reserved