hi footloose....

I'm not aware of any 0% APR credit cards in Canada... I know they have them in the U.S.

Can you give me an example of a 0% APR credit cards in Canada?

Many thanks.

As the Great Recession of 2008 is beginning to wind down and the Credit Card wars are beginning to heat up, there is now appearing not only in the U.S. but also in Canada, a proliferation of 0% APR Balance Transfer offers from various credit card companies ranging anywhere from 4 months to 16 months depending on who the credit card holder is and their standing with the credit grantor. At first read, one is very tempted to take advantage of what appears to be "free" money, that is to say, free of any interest charges. However, upon a closer examination of the offer and a detailed reading of the terms and conditions, all is not what it initially appears to be. Let's take a closer look at the facts.

Suppose you currently have a credit card of which you consistently charge approximately $200 per month. The card carries an APR ( Annual Percentage Rate ) of 19.9% but this is of no consequence because you pay off the balance on the card every month thereby incurring no interest expense. You have another card that currently charges 24.9% of which you carry a balance forward from month to month. You have just received an offer of 0% APR for a balance transfer for a period of 12 months and you wish to take advantage of this attractive offer. There is also a balance transfer fee of 2% of the amount transferred. ( Balance transfer fees can range from 0% to 5%, sometimes including a minimum amount. ) You decide to transfer $800 from your high interest credit card to your lower interest credit card.

After the transfer and your normal monthly purchases of $200, you now have a total balance payable of $1,000. Before the due date of the statement, you make a payment of $250 allocating $200 to your purchases and $50 to your balance transfer, believing that no interest will be incurred because of the 0% APR balance transfer. On your next statement, you discover that the credit card issuer has allocated $50 to your previous month's purchases and $200 to your balance transfer, now incurring an unintended interest charge on the unpaid portion of your previous month's purchases. You review your cardholder"s agreement only to find out that the credit card issuer will allocate any payment made in direct proportion that your balance transfer portion is of your total amount owing as well as your purchases is of your total amount owing. That is, your balance transfer amount of $800 is now equal to 80% of your total amount owing of $1,000. Your payment of $250 will be allocated 80% to the balance transfer amount or $200 ( 80% X $250 ) and 20% to the purchases amount or $50 ( 20% X $250 ). This is the TRAP.

To resolve this problem and to take advantage of any attractive balance transfer offers, all transfers MUST be made to a card that has no balance owing and no further purchases or cash advances made for the duration that the balance transfer is in effect. Otherwise, any balance transfer will have an unintended effect by creating an interest charge.