On the face of it, any Credit Card that offers a zero interest balance transfer as an incentive to switch from your current card supplier seems like too good a deal to be ignored but as with everything in life, and financial products are no exception, there are perils involved that could cancel out the benefits of such appealing offers.

One of the first ways that a credit company will recoup any lost income from 0% interest balance transfers is to hit you with transfer fees or ongoing charges that may actually be greater than the interest you would have been paying.

So, needless to say, the first thing you should look for is whether transfer fees are charged and if there are any ongoing charges. If you find that there are fees attached to the transfer of your credit card balance you will then need to find out whether or not it is a set fee or if it is a percentage of the balance transferred. If it is a percentage of the transferred balance you should ask if there is a cap on the charge, if not and you are transferring a large balance you could be paying a lot more than you would have saved so stay away from those cards.

Once you have completed this first check your list of potential credit card suppliers offering zero interest balance transfers will have been thinned out quite considerably. The next check is to find out if the card is truly a zero interest card.

As most people utilize their credit cards for making purchases the next step is to check that the offer of 0% interest covers all purchases that are made and not solely for the transfer of the balance. This will really sort out those cards that are really advantageous to you as many providers will charge interest on purchases. Those cards that do not offer zero percent interest on purchases often have a very high interest rate so it may be wise to have a separate card for this purpose.

You should, by now, have a much smaller list than the one you started with so the process of checking those that remain will become a lot quicker from this point which is a good thing as we now have to venture into the area commonly known as the small-print!

Needless to say, the small-print is where you will find the terms and conditions that the card provider knows you will not enjoy reading or knowing about, such as when the zero interest balance transfer offer ends and the rate that the card will then go to and, penalty charges, in the form of increased interest rates, for late payments and it is often what trips people up if they haven't checked their contracts properly.

Compare the results and apply to the card that gives you the greatest chance of saving money in the long term as once you have performed these three simple checks you will probably only have a handful of offers remaining. However, you should refrain from transferring balances too often as all card suppliers will be able to see your transfer patterns when they check your credit history.

If your history shows that you transfer from card to card on a regular basis any application you file will more than likely be declined as the card issuer will see no potential for future profit from approving your application for a zero interest balance transfer as once you reach the end of the offer the chances are that you will look to transfer again.

So to conclude, always check the terms in the small-print for hidden costs and interest increases before applying for a 0% interest offer, there are some great deals out there but unfortunately, there are far more bad ones!