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Credit Card Review: U.S. Bank Visa® Platinum Card Offers 20 Months of Interest-Free Financing
By Jason Steele MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
It’s the longest 0% APR financing of any credit card offered by a major U.S. issuer.
If you’re carrying a balance on your credit cards, then you can certainly appreciate a break on your interest charges. Thankfully, many credit card issuers offer new cardholders interest-free promotional financing on new purchases, balance transfers or both. The U.S. Bank Visa® Platinum Card features the longest 0% APR financing of any credit card offered by a major issuer in the U.S.
- Welcome Bonus: None
- Cash Back: None
- Annual Fee: None
- APR:14.49%–24.49% variable APR
- Promotional Financing Offer: 20 billing cycles of 0% intro APR financing on both new purchases and balance transfers, with a 3% balance transfer fee.
How This Card Works
The U.S. Bank Visa® Platinum Card is a fairly simple card that offers no reward points, miles or cash back. Instead, it entices new applicants by offering them 20 months of 0% APR financing on both new purchases and balance transfers. That means you’ll have 20 billing cycles without incurring any interest charges before the standard rates apply to any remaining balance. The current rates are 14.49% to 24.49% APR, and the rate you receive will be based on your creditworthiness. And like nearly all credit cards, these are variable rates that can change with the Prime Rate.
There’s a 3% balance transfer fee, and a 3% foreign transaction fee (2% for foreign transactions in U.S. dollars). But there’s no annual fee for this card.
Advantages
This card can allow you to save tremendous money on interest charges. If your current credit card debt is in the thousands, it’s certainly possible to save hundreds of dollars in interest, while paying off your balances sooner. This is possible since 100% of your payments will go towards principal during the promotional financing period.
Disadvantages
This card has a 3% balance transfer fee, which is pretty standard for balance transfer cards. So the biggest risk is that cardholders could misuse an offer like this to postpone repayment of their debts, rather than paying it off sooner. If you use this offer to avoid paying down your balances, then you risk being trapped in a spiral of debt that will only be harder to get out of in the future.
Alternatives
BankAmericard® from Bank of America. This card offers new applicants 18 months of 0% APR financing on both new purchases and balance transfers when made within the first 60 days (with a 3% balance transfer fee). It offers no rewards and has no annual fee.
Citi® Diamond Preferred® Credit Card. Here’s another card that features 18 months of 0% intro APR financing on both new purchases and balance transfers, with a 3% balance transfer fee (or $5, whichever is greater). Likewise, the Diamond Preferred® Credit Card offers no rewards and has no annual fee.
Discover it® Cash Back. This competing card only offers 14 months 0% intro APR financing on both new purchases and balance transfers, with a 3% intro balance transfer fee (until August 10, 2021). Yet it also includes 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent each quarter on featured merchant categories, and 1% cash back on all other purchases. Discover will even match the cash back you earn during your account’s first year. There’s no annual fee for the Discover it® Cash Back card.
Bottom Line
0% APR offers were very scarce in 2020, especially for balance transfers. But as with so many other things, they seem to be returning in 2021. By taking a closer look at the U.S. Bank Visa® Platinum Card, you can decide if it’s the right solution to help you pay down, or pay off your credit card debt.
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Jason Steele is a nationally recognized credit card expert, with more than a decade of experience covering the credit card space. His work has been published in The Points Guy, Business Insider, Nerdwallet, Forbes, Yahoo! Finance, and many more. He's also the founder of CardCon, an annual conference for the credit card industry and its influencers.