13 Best 0% interest credit cards of December 2024

Credit card interest is the cost of borrowing money as a percentage of your credit card balance at the end of each billing cycle. It's one of the main ways that credit card companies make money. At the end of each billing cycle, the credit card issuer calculates your interest charges using your average daily balance, APR and the number of days in the billing cycle. How much interest you pay depends on the card's APR, which can be determined partly by your creditworthiness and federal interest rates.

Knowing your APR is important to understanding how much you pay each month and how much you can save with an intro APR offer. Rates steadily increased throughout summer 2024 but took a sharp dip in September 2024. Since rates are trending down, your ongoing APR — the interest rate after your intro APR offer ends — won’t be as high, ultimately saving you even more money. So now’s a good time to consider applying for cards with zero-interest intro offers.

High rates could easily accumulate hundreds of dollars in interest payments before you settle your balance, especially if you charge most of your purchases to a credit card. With the right intro APR offer, you can focus on paying down your debt without racking up additional interest on your balance during the intro period. These offers usually only keep interest at bay for 12 to 21 months until the typical interest rate kicks in, but this could still be more than enough time to settle your balance if you stick to your debt payoff plan. 

Based on a $3,000 balance, 3 percent balance transfer fee and the minimum payment required to settle the balance within 18 months, Bankrate’s credit card payoff calculator shows that an 18-month 0 percent intro APR offer could save you around $400 in interest on a $3,000 credit card balance. Just keep in mind that an intro APR on balance transfers only shields your transferred balance from interest — new purchases you make will still rack up interest unless the card also has a 0 percent intro APR offer for new purchases.

Choosing a 0% intro APR card for purchases vs. balance transfers

While many zero-interest cards have the same intro APR offers for purchases and balance transfers, some of the most popular cards may provide a shorter offer on purchases to deliver a longer balance transfer intro APR or another valuable perk. To help narrow down your shortlist of potential cards, consider whether you prioritize keeping interest at bay on upcoming purchases, your existing balance or if a well-rounded card with matching offers is best for your situation.

Should you get a 0% intro APR card?

While an intro APR offer can help you potentially save hundreds on potential interest costs, a zero-interest card can be a slippery slope into a debt cycle or credit damage if you’re not careful. If you don’t make sufficient payments or you’re still racking up a bigger balance than you can pay off in time, you could end up owing interest on your zero-interest card too. Your intro APR could also end early if you missed a payment due date or didn’t make the minimum payment — leaving you right back where you started and possibly with a sky-high penalty APR. 

Getting advice from others who have been in your situation is a great way to determine your next financial step. Using a credit card with a zero-interest intro APR offer can help you plan for large expenses without accumulating interest. Make sure you use your offer carefully, as your credit score remains an important piece of your overall financial health.

How a Bankrate writer used his 0% intro APR card offer

Using an intro APR card can make it easier to cover large purchases, but you should do your best not to charge more than you’re sure you can pay off.

The Citi Custom Cash card and its intro APR on purchases helped Bankrate writer Brendan Dyer get used to adding a new car loan payment into his monthly budget.

“Shortly after I bought a car, I applied for the Citi Custom Cash card because it had an introductory APR offer I wanted to take advantage of alongside my new car loan. I used the card to buy groceries and, occasionally, gas. I never had a loan before, so making car payments was new to me. I wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible, or at least get far enough ahead on the loan that I could trim the overall interest I would pay on it.

The Citi Custom Cash card and its introductory APR offer let me carry a balance for all my regular purchases for a little more than one year while I focused on paying off my car. I knew I would eventually pay off my card balance before the offer period ended, but the intro APR gave me a safety net while I managed a new monthly car payment. It also helped me avoid a lot of interest on my car loan because I didn’t need to pay my card off right away and could keep paying down the principal on my loan.”

— Brendan Dyer, Writer, Bankrate

How we assess the best zero-interest credit cards

When evaluating the best zero-interest cards, we consider a mix of factors, including how cards score in our proprietary card rating system and whether cards offer features that fit the priorities of a diverse group of cardholders. 

A “zero-interest” designation can apply to several different types of card, each best suited to a different type of cardholder. Some users may need to finance purchases or carry a balance long term, others may need as much time as possible to chip away at debt and still others would love an intro APR but mostly want to maximize a card’s long-term value via rewards.

Here’s a quick look at our card rating methodologies vary based on card type, with most “zero-interest” cards landing in a primary scoring category of Balance Transfer, Low-Interest or Rewards.

For balance transfer and low-interest cards, our scoring breaks down as follows:

For rewards cards, the breakdown looks quite different:

We analyzed over 100 of the most popular zero-interest cards and scored each based on its introductory APR, intro APR period length, ongoing APR, balance transfer fee, perks and more to determine whether it belonged in this month’s roundup.

Here are some of the key factors that we considered:

Have more questions for our credit cards editors? Feel free to send us an email, find us on Facebook, or Tweet us @Bankrate.

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the benefits may be provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

The information about the Chase Freedom Flex has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the card issuer.