The Clever Alternative to Zero Interest Credit Cards
During difficult financial times, when the cost of living is rising much faster than wages or benefits, we understand why our members might need to find affordable ways to borrow money. As well as one-off expenses such as having to replace white goods in the kitchen, get a car back on the road or pay vets bills, it can sometimes be necessary to borrow money to help spread the cost of an expense. In cases such as this, it can often be tempting to turn to zero interest credit cards, but we offer a really ‘clever’ alternative.
It’s easy to see why zero interest credit cards may seem extremely tempting. After all, the chance to borrow money without paying any interest seems almost too good to be true… and it often is. In almost all cases, zero interest credit cards only offer the zero interest deal for a set period of time. When that period of time – 12 or 24 months for example – is over, the zero interest credit cards revert to being standard interest credit cards, and the only way to maintain zero interest payments is to switch to another provider offering the same deal.
In an ideal world, you’d fully repay the balance before the zero interest rate ends, or transfer the balance to another zero interest credit card to maintain the same payment rates. But we know life really doesn’t always work like that and it’s all too easy to miss the switching date and find yourself having to pay standard credit card interest rates. The answer may well be to switch the balance to another card offering a temporary period of zero interest rates before the process starts all over again. The trouble is, it can be too easy to lose track of the payments owed on different cards and find yourself trapped in a spiral of borrowing and re-borrowing, which is why we’d always recommend considering a loan from CLEVR Money instead.
Although we don’t offer zero interest, we are a responsible ethical lender and we keep our interest rates as fair as possible. We can do this because we operate on a not-for-profit basis and we offer loans in a completely transparent manner with no hidden fees and extras. We’ll make sure you know exactly what your weekly or monthly payments will be and how much you’ll pay in total and an application process that is quick and simple.
The other big advantage of borrowing from CLEVR Money rather than using zero interest credit cards is that having the money in your account puts you in an extremely powerful position in terms of seeking the best price. For larger purchases such as cars and kitchens, for example, being able to pay in full upfront can make it easier to drive the price down. So before signing up for that zero interest card online, come and see what clever options CLEVR Money can offer you first.
*Representative example. Borrowing £6,000 over 60 months will cost £141.48. Total amount repayable is £8,488.80 which includes interest at 15.6% APR. The figures given above are for illustrative purposes only. The actual interest rates and repayment amounts may vary subject to loan amount and status.
