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How do balance transfer for life credit card offers work?

I received a 0% discover card balance transfer for life offer and wonder what the catch is.

Public Comments

1. Make sure you check the details of the offer. Here is an interesting article about balance transfer for life offers: http://www.budgetcents.net/2008/08/22/balance-transfer-for-life-is-it-worth-it/
2. I find that hard to believe and would make sure to read the fine print. I imagine there is no limit to the typical 3% balance transfer fee. I have had 0% offers for a limited time, sometimes with $50 or $75 balance transfer fee limit. But the best offer I remember getting for unlimited time, until the balance was paid off was 2.99%. But my HELOC is currently 4.5% deductable which is effectively 3.375% with no balance transfer fee.
3. I received one of these from my Mastercard and they can be a lifesaver if you use them properly, but I would suspect that you got a 0% interest rate on a Discover card with a balance transfer for the life of the loan at a severely reduced interest rate and you just didn't read the fine print yet! My credit card company offered me a balance transfer for life at an interest rate of 3.9% for the life of the loan, a great deal since I paid off an installment plan at 14.9% interest for a new Heating and Air Conditioning unit for my house! I will save a ton in interest! You call your credit card company and ask them to transfer a balance for you (there will be a small fee for this, usually 3% of the loan amount) and they pay off your creditor and you make those payments to your credit card company! This can be a great deal like i said, but if your planning to do this ask any questions about the terms with your card holding company. The article posted by Mike Ro above is a graet one and you should read it! The offer from Discover is not a very good one and you will have to make purchases at a normal interest rate just to keep the 0% interest on the lifetime balance transfer offer.