If you have ever tried to run a family on a monthly budget then you know how easy it can be to balance the books. Some months you may need to spend more than in other months so a good way to provide a buffer is to use a credit card. The only down side to this is that we can fall into the trap of not paying off the balance at the end of the month, getting charged interest and eventually getting into debt if we are not careful.
One way to avoid this would be to get credit cards with 0 interest, this means that the interest rate that you pay on the balance at the end of the month is 0%. Of course the credit card companies cannot afford to offer this on a permanent basis as they would never make any money. Instead they tend to offer an interest free rate for a certain period of time.
There are two different rates on most cards, there are the balance transfer rates and the card purchase rates. The first is usually the headline offer on a card which is the 0% balance transfer cards rate. This means that you will pay no interest on the debt that you transfer from your old card to your new card. It is not unusual to be able to get an interest free period of up to 16 months, possibly sometime longer when there are special promotions.
The second rate is the 0% purchase rate, this means that you pay no interest charges on any new purchases on your card. The period that is offered for new purchases is generally a lot shorter maybe only 3 months. This is a useful feature to have if you know that you may have some additional outgoings that you may not be able to cover in your normal monthly budget such as at Christmas or for your summer holiday.
Any time you decide to get credit cards with 0 interest you must always bear in mind the standard APR rate the card will charge when the interest free period ends. You should try to ensure that you pay off any outstanding balance or if you cannot then transfer the balance to a new zero interest credit card.