Credit Card A.P.R. Basics.
A credit cards APR means the Annual Percentage Rate of interest charged. IT is common now for cards to offer a zero-percent initial APR which can be on purchases, balance-transfers or sometimes both. This initial 0% period can either be used to avoid paying any interest on existing borrowing or can be used to make a profit.
Zero interest credit on balance transfers can be used to avoid paying any of the interest on existing loans such as outstanding balances on other credit cards by transferring the balances to the new card. This means that repayments can be applied to reducing the balance rather than paying any interest.
Another way one can use such accounts is to obtain "free money". This is done by using the funds made available on the new account and placing them into a savings bank or other interest-generating system. Occasionally such an approach might even be used for more risky investments such as business startups. It is rumored that the Google company used such funds to buy some of their early hardware setups, and it is known that the movie "Clerks" was funded in this way.
Cash advances often have different rules from other types of use. Sometimes a higher interest rate is charged, and this rate can be charged from the day the advance is obtained rather than from the billing date as is usual with purchases. It is also sometimes the case that repayments get applied to all other categories of expenditure on the card before they are applied at all to any cash advances.
A credit cards APR is one of the main factors in choosing a card, and can be a quick way of comparing a variety of card offers, but it's not the only factor in choosing a card, as there can be various fees, and the exact details of the agreement can vary. Also, some cards offer particular rewards, such as air miles or other specific ways one can benefit from using the card.
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