ZERO Percent is BACK!
I mentioned earlier this month how I got approved for a ZERO Percent Citibank Mastercard with no annual fee. In fact, I’ve already taken the money and stuffed into RRSP’s and some in savings so that I’ve got the funds to pay off my full balance by January 2008, and make a few dollars in interest in the process.
The ZERO percent applies only to the balance transfer portion of the offer. If you have a balance on a higher rate credit card, this will give you a break on the interest on that chunk of your balance till January 2008. Keep in mind though, like most credit card products, this can be a trap if you don’t remember that credit cards apply the payments to the lower interest bearing charges before the higher ones. Also, if you use the card for regular purchase, those purchase do not get the ZERO rate promo.
If Citibank gave you $5000 to transfer onto your current credit card, and your charges on that card were $8000 with $2000 of that in lower interest cash advances, the $5000 would pay off the $2000 cash advance balance first, and then apply the remaining $3000 to your higher interest purchase balances. You’d still have $3000 in high interest bearing charges which will continue to accrue interest at the higher rate. With that in mind, you should immediately pay off the $3000 because once you do, you can charge on it again and take advantage of the built in grace period for new charges. But if you don’t keep it paid off every month from that point on, you’ll have it racked up again and you start accruing interest at the crazy high rate: The credit card trap.
The original offer was set to expire at the end of December, but it looks like due to an overwhelming response, Citibank has brought it back and is extending it to February 15th. However, they also say that you have to have both your balance transfer and account approved before this date. Better get cracking! Here are the details…
If you use the offer code of P6N on the Citibank Canada website, you’ll get another shot at a ZERO PERCENT balance transfer, and believe me, nothing beats ZERO PERCENT. In fact, there’s nothing better than ZERO percent! So to all of you that were grousing about missing the first offer, here’s your second chance. But remember, both transfers and accounts must be approved and authorized by February 15th. Although it is ZERO percent, please keep in mind that you will need to pay it off by January 2008 and you will need to pay the minimum balance every month as part of the agreement. You can see how if you’re not responsible, ZERO percent can become a liability in the wrong hands.
Citibank should pay me for pimping this, but I guess making some money off their ZERO percent rate for a year will have to do. Goodluck!