Discover's Most Popular 0% Card Leaves The Market

Discover's $0 Balance Transfer Fee credit card, which was the most popular 0% credit card on this site last month, is no more. This particular offer ended @ the end of February, 2012. It was an extremely popular offer, garnering lots of interest from credit consumers all over the country.

As a company, Discover totally "gets it." Essentially, Discover does business in accordance with the following guiding premise:

Provide top notch customer service, and include as much value as possible, like the best cashback rewards program in the American market and generous 0% intro APR periods, and consumers will beat a path to our door.

Yep.

The demise of Discover's no fee balance transfer card is a lamentable event, no doubt. It's always sad when a great deal goes away.

But don't fret. There are still some great credit-card offers out there from some of America's most reputable banks.

Chase's new no transfer fee, 0% intro APR card is still available. This latest evolution of the Slate® card offers a zero percent introductory interest rate on both new purchases and balance transfer for 15 months, with no balance transfer fee.

The above Chase Slate card was the third most popular card on the www.BalanceTransfer.cc site during February 2012. The #2 card was Discover's 18 Month Promotional Balance Transfer credit card, which offers a zero percent introductory rate on transferred balances for a very attractive 18 months. Despite the 3% transfer fee, this card is still an excellent value. It includes a zero percent introductory rate on new purchases for 6 months.

Citi® still has serious contenders in the 0% credit card game. There are 4 Citi credit cards that offer a zero percent rate on both introductory transfers and new purchases for 18 months, with a 3% transfer fee. You can review these Citi cards, and all the best 0% credit cards in the current market right here.

I see Discover introducing a new $0 Balance Transfer Fee card in the near future.


We're always on the lookout for the best credit-card deals in the USA. Enjoy...and stay tuned.

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Discover Most Popular 0% Card Gets Another Month

Right now, and by a wide margin, the most popular 0% card we recommend is Discover's No Balance Transfer Fee 0% credit card, that offers a zero percent introductory interest rate on both new purchases and transferred balances for 12 months, with no balance transfer fee.

This hot offer was originally slated to last until the end of January 2012. But Discover has opted to extend the offer. You can now apply for this card until the end of February (February ends on the 29th this year.)

Enjoy....and stay tuned.

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Discover's New No Fee Balance Transfer 0% Credit Card

Great news: Discover has just released a new 0% credit card that features 0% intro APR on both new purchases and transferred balances for 12 months, with no balance transfer fee.

One caveat: if you want to take advantage of this offer, don't delay. It's set to expire at the end of this month (January 31, 2012.) Hopefully, Discover will choose to extend this hot offer beyond January, but there's no way to know for sure.

As we predicted, 0% credit card deals keep getting better as the economy slowly improves. Enjoy....and stay tuned.

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Discover Lowers Balance Transfer Fee from 4% to 3% On Two Very Popular Cards

Right now, the two most popular cards we recommend are both issued by Discover. They are the:

• Discover 18 Month Promotional Balance Transfer card, which offers 0% intro APR on transferred balances for 18 months, and zero intro APR on new purchases for 6 months
  
  
• Discover® More Card - 15 Month Intro Period card, which offers 0% intro APR on transferred balances AND new purchases for 15 months.

Transfer a balance to either card above, and you used to be subject to a 4% balance transfer fee. No longer. The transfer fee has been lowered to 3% for both cards. You have 6 months to take advantage of the 3% transfer fee -- plenty of time. After that, if you want to perform a transfer, the fee is 5%.

Obviously, the lower transfer fee makes these cards more competitive. But I think Discover is going to have to bring back their 24 Month Balance Transfer card, which offered zero intro APR on transferred balances for a full 2 years, if the company wants to stay ahead of Citi® in the balance transfer game (Discover pulled their 24 Month Promotional card from the market back May.)

Right now, Citi has no less than four credit cards that feature zero percent intro APR on both transferred balances AND new purchases for 21 months, with a transfer fee of 3%. Very competitive. These cards are:

• Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card
• Citi® Platinum Select® Visa®
• Citi® Platinum Select® MasterCard®
• Citi Simplicity® Card

So don't be surprised if Discover reintroduces an ultra-long duration, 0% balance transfer card, or a "no balance transfer fee" 0% card, or a card that combines both competition-trumping benefits, in the near future.

Chase recently upped the ante by introducing a version of its Slate card that features zero percent intro APR on transferred balances for 15 months, with no balance transfer fee. You can find this card at the top of this page.

Despite the increased competition, Discover remains the top choice for visitors who apply for credit accounts via this website. Discover's reputation for offering exceptional customer service ⁽¹⁾ is very appealing to all types of credit consumers. And it doesn't hurt that Discover has (arguably) the best cashback rewards program in the industry.

All of the above cards will be very popular from January through March, as Americans do their best to minimize debt related to holiday shopping. Christmas spending is great for the economy, and it's great for all the kids in your circle of family and friends. But try to take it easy. All things in moderation. The housing sector is still weak, unemployment still elevated and growth remains anemic. If your financial situation is great, then by all means spend away and enjoy all the juicy rewards that credit cards have to offer. If not, then please think twice hard before you upgrade that iPhone or that XBox 360.

As the economy slowly but surely thaws over the next three quarters, credit-card deals will get more and more consumer-friendly...no doubt. Stay tuned, and have yourself a superlative holiday season.

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Discover 24 Month Promotional 0% Balance Transfer Card Is Ratcheted Back to 18 Months

Discover's 24 Month Promotional Balance Transfer card, which offered 0% intro APR on transferred balances for a full 2 years, is no longer available. Not good news, but please don't shoot the messenger!

But today's credit-card news isn't all bad.

Discover has a new promotional, long duration, 0% balance transfer credit card, which offers 0% intro APR on transferred balances for 18 months. This card has no annual fee, but has a 4% balance transfer fee.

Yes, 2 years of freedom from paying interest on credit-card debt is awesome, but, hey, a year and a half of freedom from interest is pretty darn good too.

You can find Discover's new long duration 0% balance transfer card here.

NB: The 18 Month Promotional Balance Transfer card won't be available forever (hence "promotional") so if you plan of taking advantage of this particular offer, procrastination is not recommended.

And, yes, there's even more positive news.

Discover has a new 15 Month Intro APR card, which offers 0% intro APR on both new credit-card purchases and transferred balances, for a full 15 months. You can find this high-value card here.

So, as of May 3, 2011, the two cards described in this blog entry are currently the best 0% credit cards available in the American market. Enjoy!

For more, visit this page.

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24 Month 0% Card from Discover Lives On

First, the bad news: the Discover No Balance Transfer Fee card is no more.
The good news: The Discover 24 Month Balance Transfer card, which offers 0% intro APR on transferred balances for a full 2 years, is still available. The 24 Month card, which was to be discontinued along with No Balance Transfer Fee card, lives on, as Discover decided to keep it alive indefinitely. So, as of March 1, 2011, the best 0% credit card in the American market is Discover's 24 Month Balance Transfer card.

For more, visit this page.

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No Balance Transfer Fee 0% Credit Cards Are Back

It was December 9, 2008 when we reported that the last no fee balance transfer, 0% credit card on offer from a major bank had been discontinued. It was the Bank of America Pet Rewards Visa card. You can read that post here. Back then, banks large and small were imploding all across America, and all types of loans became very hard to find. Credit cards were not spared. Banks were closing accounts, cutting credit limits and saying "no" to even the best borrowers who applied for credit. If you had any credit cards back then, you probably remember how bad it was. If you didn't have a credit card during the peak of the financial crisis, then read this post to get idea of how ugly it was.

Fast forward to today. Small regional banks are still vulnerable, but most of the big players are healthy, thanks to the American taxpayer (massive bailouts), and the Federal Reserve (extremely cheap loans.) In fact, banks are still able to borrow from the Fed @ next to 0%, then lend it right back to the Treasury Department and make more than 3%. Might not sound like much, but when you're talking about 8 and 9 figure sums moving around, the profits can be substantial. For the banks, this is some of the easiest arbitrage on the planet, no doubt.

Lots of Americans are still very angry about the bailouts, and for good reason. But at least we now have enough large, reputable and healthy banks that they now have the power to compete without worrying about going broke.

A clear sign that banks are strong, confident and ready to compete is the return favorable of credit-card offers, including our favorite type of card: the 0% intro APR, no fee balance transfer credit card. Yummy.

Discover has two new and very attractive offers. The No Balance Transfer Fee card, to which you can transfer a balance with no transfer fees, and pay no interest for 12 months, and the 24 Month Promotional card, which offers 0% intro APR on transferred balance for a full 2 years. You can find these cards here. These are both extremely consumer friendly offers, but there is one caveat: both offers are for a limited time; they'll expire on February 28, 2011. Right now, these two cards are, quite easily, the best 0% credit cards available in the United States. We're hoping that these cards will be so popular that Discover will keep these offers going after February.

So if you were a bit too jolly during the 2010 Christmas shopping season, and you want to avoid paying burdensome finance charges on the debt associated with your Xmas spending spree(s), then don't hesitate to apply for one of these new Discover cards.

PS: if you're approved for the new Discover No Balance Transfer Fee card, you will also be able to take advantage of 0% intro APR on new purchases for 12 full months. With the new 0% intro APR for 24 Months balance transfer card, the new purchase interest-free period is 6 months. Enjoy!

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Plain Vanilla Discover More Card Now The #1 Credit Card @ www.BalanceTransfer.cc

Based solely on the number of applications submitted via this website, the plain vanilla (or "classic") Discover More Card is now the most popular credit card we recommend, knocking the Discover More Black Card to second place. Why are visitors more interested in the plain vanilla card when they could choose the Black Card, or the Discover More $100 CashBack Bonus card? Simple: the classic More Card is now offering the best 0% balance transfer deal: 0% intro APR on transferred balances for 18 months. Here's how these cards look right now, from a 0% intro APR point of view:

Discover More Card (plain vanilla):

• 0% intro APR on transferred balances for 18 months
• 0% intro APR on new purchases for 6 months
  
  

Discover More Black Card:

• 0% intro APR on transferred balances for 12 months
• 0% intro APR on new purchases for 12 months

Discover More Card with $100 CashBack Bonus:

• 0% intro APR on transferred balances for 12 months
• 0% intro APR on new purchases for 6 months

It seems that the 18 month interest-free period being offered by the plain vanilla More Card is just too attractive a deal to pass up. Godspeed to all applicants.

In general, the rate of application approvals is still improving, albeit at a very moderate clip. We'd like to see credit-card banks approve a lot more applications, especially since American credit-card banks are doing OK these days, and because they have the implicit support of the federal government. Banks are healthy, and they should be willing and able to take more risks. Banks have been able to borrow at 0% - 0.25% and lend at much higher rates, like the rates consumers pay on credit cards. And the easy money isn't going to end any time soon. The Fed is going to keep the target fed funds rate at near zero for as long as it takes to get the economy growing fast enough to bring the unemployment rate down, no doubt.

More evidence of improving credit-card units at big banks, from reports of third-quarter performance. From Chase:

"...JPMorgan Chase Reports Third-Quarter 2010 Net Income of $4.4 Billion, or $1.01 Per Share, on Revenue1 of $24.3 Billion...Card Services sales volume up compared with prior year and quarter; 2.7 million new accounts opened during the quarter; net charge-offs and delinquencies continued to improve..."

From Discover Financial Services:

"...Discover card sales volume of $24 billion in the quarter continued to show positive growth trends, increasing 5% from the prior year.

• Net interest margin of 9.16% remained relatively stable as compared to the prior quarter, as the impact of legislative changes was offset by lower interest charge-offs.

• Credit performance continued to improve, with net charge-offs down $102 million from the prior quarter and a net chargeoff rate for the third quarter of 7.18%.

• Loans over 30 days delinquent declined $180 million in the quarter, which led to a $187 million release of loan loss
reserves.

• Payment Services processed record transaction volume in the quarter of $39 billion and showed continued strong results with profit before tax up 36% from the prior year..."

And here's a clutch of clips from a very recent and excellent WSJ article (WSJ is always great, ain't it?) about easing credit-card delinquencies:

"...At American Express, which has an affluent cardholder base, borrowers at least a month behind in their card payments fell to 2.3% in October from 2.5% in September..."

"...Discover said charge-offs totaled 6.83% of credit-card loans that have been packaged into bonds, down from 7.15%. The 30-day delinquency rate fell to 4.34% from 4.41%. Its shares rose 2.4% to $19.05. Discover and its bigger rival, American Express, process card transactions in addition to issuing credit cards..."

"...J.P. Morgan Chase said charge-offs fell to 7% from 7.78% and delinquencies fell to 3.81% from 3.82%..."

"...Bank of America has consistently reported a higher write-off rate than other major U.S. card issuers. Delinquencies were lower, at 5.6% compared with 5.71%..."

"...At Capital One, a card-lender-turned-bank, charge-offs in its U.S. credit-card business fell to an annualized 7.26% in October from 8.38% in September, according to a regulatory filing Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The 30-day delinquency rate continued to fall, to 4.45% from 4.53%..."

Based on our own data here @ www.BalanceTransfer.cc, credit-card approvals by all the major credit-card banks peaked during the first quarter of 2007. We're looking forward to the day banks approve applications like they did back then. Americans need access to credit to feel prosperous and spend, and that spending will contribute much to getting this economy back to strong and sustainable growth, which in turn will bring the jobless rate down.

The old "I'll use the equity in my home as an ATM and buy all the stuff I want" paradigm is dead, or at least in a very deep coma. Waiting for it to return...that would be like Waiting for Godot.

Based my own very recent experience, I'd say the American consumer is itching to spend like the good old days of 2007 (ahhhh, the memories!) After enjoying a fabulous Thanksgiving meal, I took a midnight trip to Wal-Mart, in an effort to burn off some calories. It was the first minutes of Black Friday. The store was a war zone. There was special fencing at the entrance, and a very noticeable police presence. And the lines: unbelievable. They stretched back to the opposite end of the store, which translated to a 2+ hour wait, in my estimation. Eveyone looked very stressed, which was very puzzling to me. After all, these shoppers knew what to expect. For me, it was fun to watch the madness.

I do all my Xmas shopping the day after Christmas. Excellent sales, and manageable lines. I'm too old and busy for the Black Friday thing.

Stay tuned for more 0% credit card updates. Thanks for reading.

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Discover More with $75 CashBack Is Now Discover More with $100 Cashback

Some interesting news out of Discover today. The Discover More Card with $75 CashBack is now the Discover More Card with $100 CashBack. Value has truly increased with this reconfigured card. That's because the amount of spending one must do to qualify for the cash bonus hasn't changed, i.e., spend $500 within your first 3 months as a cardholder. This revamped card is available here.

This card also features the same generous cashback rewards that are the hallmark of the Discover More family of credit cards: 5% cashback when spending within certain categories like grocery and drugs stores, dining, hotels, theme parks, travel and more. Cardholders also earn up to 1% cashback on all other purchases.

Cashback rewards don't expire, but:

"... if your account is closed for any reason or inactive for 18 consecutive months or if you fail to make any Minimum Payment Due for two consecutive billing periods, any Cashback Bonus in your Cashback Bonus account will be forfeited..."

So, as long as you don't shelve the card for a year and a half, and as long as you make payments on time, your rewards won't disappear.

Discover may have reconfigured this card to compete with the Chase Freedom Visa® credit card with $100 cash back bonus. This Discover credit card may be more attractive to consumers, however, because with the Chase Freedom $100 cash back bonus card, the cardholder must spend at least $799 within the first 3 months, whereas the Discover card requires only $500-worth of spending within the same period.

Yup: competition in the financial services industry is always a good thing! Amen. Enjoy!

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No Fee Balance Transfer Update

No Balance Transfer Fee

In our last post at this blog, we confirmed that the Bank of America (BofA) Pet Rewards Visa® card was still offering 0% intro APR on transferred balances, with no balance transfer fee. Today's news isn't good: this card was discontinued yesterday. I felt a need to confirm this somber news because sometimes a bank will discontinue a credit product from affiliate sites like www.BalanceTransfer.cc, but the product can still be found on the bank's website. So I searched for this card using my favorite search engine and found that it was still listed on the BofA website. For clarification, I decided to have another online conversation with a BofA representative. The conversation ended a few minutes ago; here's how that conversation went:

Current Transcript of the Chat Session. Thank you for choosing Bank of America. An operator will be with you shortly. You are now chatting with Amanda.

Amanda: Hello, thank you for joining Bank of America online chat. I am here to assist you in selecting new accounts that fit your needs. How can I assist you today?

you: Hello

you: I want to know if the Bank of America PetRewards® Visa® card is still available

Amanda: No I am sorry it is not.

Amanda: It was discontinued yesterday.

you: OK, so Bank of America hasn't had a chance to remove all pages related to this card yet, is that right?

you: I was able to find this card with a Google search

Amanda: That's not our site so they may still have it (?)

Amanda: However if you try to get to the application you will get an error.

you: Ok, well thanks for your time

Amanda: You’re very welcome.

Amanda: Are you looking for a balance transfer card?

you: yes

Amanda: How much are you looking to transfer?

you: I'm looking for 0% intro APR on introductory balance transfers, with no balance transfer fee

you: I'm looking to transfer about $4,000

Amanda: Well we don't have a card with no fee but we do have cards with 0% APR for 15 months on balance transfers and then we give you $25.00 back for doing the transfer. So once you get the credit back the fee would only be like $95.00

you: are you referring to the Bank of America Cash Rewards card?

Amanda: That is one of them

you: OK, so I'd like to know the other cards with similar terms and benefits

Amanda: Please click here for information regarding our Visa Signature with WorldPoints.

Amanda: Please click here for information regarding our WorldPoints Platinum Plus MasterCard.

Amanda: Are you still with me? Please respond so I can leave this chat window open to answer any application questions you may have.

you: I have all the information I need. Thanks and have a great day.

Amanda: You’re very welcome.

Right now, the best 0% credit card in the American market is the Discover More Card, which currently offers 0% intro APR on introductory balance transfers for 12 months, with a transfer fee of 3%. Unfortunately, there is no longer a cap on the transfer fee with Discover More, so if, for example, you want to transfer $3,500 or more, the transfer fee would be at least $105.

But you do have options, like the Bank of America Visa® Signature® WorldPoints Rewards credit card, which now offers 0% intro APR on introductory balance transfers for 15 months, with a balance transfer fee of 3%. This is one of the cards the BofA representative recommended during our online conversation (which I posted above.) With this card, there is the added benefit of a $25 statement credit that you can use to reduce the balance transfer fee. So if you were to transfer $4,000 to this card, the real transfer fee would be:

• $4,000.00 X 0.03 (transaction fee) = $120.00
• $120.00 - $25 (statement credit) = $95.00

Am I sure that a balance transfer would qualify for the statement credit? Yes, I am, because I just checked the terms & conditions for this card. Here's a clip:

"...To qualify for this offer, your new account must be used to make any purchase, balance transfer or cash advance transaction totaling $25 excluding any transaction fees, if applicable within 45 days of the account open date. Limit one (1) statement credit per new account...."

We also have confirmation of this from the BofA representative (see transcript above.)

Ok, so I'm guessing that your next question is, "Why would you recommend the Discover More card before recommending the BofA Visa Signature with WorldPoints Rewards card? Seems that the BofA card offers more value with the 15 month holiday from paying interest on transferred balances."

The answer: because with the BofA cards, the balance transfer fee is subject to finance charges. Here is a clip from the term & conditions associated with the BofA Visa Signature with WorldPoints Rewards card:

"...We include Transaction Fees when computing finance charges. Incurring Transaction Fees results in an APR exceeding 0% for the billing statement on which those fees appear. The Daily Periodic Rate (DPR) will remain 0% as disclosed..."

We also like the Discover More card because its cash back rewards package is the most generous in the American consumer credit card market.

Where Did The "No Fee Balance Transfer"
Pulaski Bank Credit Cards Go?

A little FYI to end this blog entry: The two "no fee balance transfer" cards from Pulaski bank are still available here. The reason we removed them from the "No Fee Balance Transfer" page was because these cards are very difficult to get. Approvals are few and far between. However, if you feel that your credit profile is stellar -- and I mean super perfect -- then by all means give one of these cards a try.

The reason these two Pulaski Bank cards are so hard to get?

• 0% intro APR on introductory balance transfers for 6 months
• No balance transfer fee
• For the regular Pulaski Bank MasterCard® or VISA® Card, the APR on purchases and cash advances is 6.50%. For the Pulaski Bank Visa Gold Card, the APR on purchases and cash advances is 8.00% (you will have a hard time finding credit cards on offer from other American banks with APR's that low, especially for cash advances!)

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Bad Credit, No Credit - Big Problem

“Bad credit, no credit - NO PROBLEM”. Have you ever heard that catch phrase on a TV commercial or seen it on a billboard? Used car salesmen and sub-prime mortgage lenders have practically burned that slogan into the psyche of working class and young America. Of course, we know that potential financiers use such tactics to woo customers into signing for what many would call bad loans, but the reality is that bad credit really is a problem. It can be extremely hard to make ends meet without any credit cushion at all, and the current state of the economy is only making matters worse. Although Congress agreed to a $700 billion bailout plan for America’s largest commercial banks, these lending institutions are actually lending less, not more. The reins have been pulled in tighter, and it is nearly impossible to get a decent loan these days, even for applicants with good credit.

So what do those with bad credit and no credit do?

If you search diligently enough, you can find credit cards designed for people with bad credit. The idea is to approve you for a very low credit limit to help you rebuild your credit. As you pay off your balances on time and develop a positive history, you can qualify for credit increases. It sounds like a good option for starting over - until you read the fine print. The following video highlights the terms and conditions on one of these cards and it will shock you to learn just how terrible a deal this is!



If that kind of card was your only credit option, you would be in pretty bad shape.

The good news is that such a poor deal isn’t your only option. If you have bad credit or no credit at all, consider applying for the Discover More credit card. Discover More offers 0% intro APR on balance transfers and new purchases, and a 5% cash back reward that tops just about all competitors. Because the credit card industry has trained consumers to believe that exclusivity is a sign of quality, many people have been led to believe that Discover is somehow a sub par credit option. The hit prime-time cartoon series Family Guy has even poked fun at Discover.


What’s not funny, however, is applying for credit from one of the more “exclusive” companies and being rejected. Rejection doesn’t just hurt your ego; it hurts your credit rating, too. So, although Peter Griffin had a good time delivering the bad news to that potential patron, it’s actually good news for you. If your credit rating declares you to be just “anybody”, then you may actually have a good way to help rebuild your credit with the Discover More card.

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