Updated June 16, 2008. Any indented text is excerpted directly from the issuer’s marketing.

Here is an update to an article I posted about four months ago. If you’re looking for 0% APR offers, here are 79 of them.

Warning! Taking advantage of credit card companies may be fun and profitable, but it is dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing, or if you do know what you’re doing but are not careful. If you miss one payment, in most cases, you will owe back interest at the default rate.

That being said, here are a bunch of credit cards offering 0% APR on purchases, balance transfers, or cash advances for a year or six months. Use these cards responsibly, and you can save yourself money two ways. First, you can earn interest on your cash while paying off the card, and second, you can use inflation to your advantage. For example, if you pay $100 each month for thirteen months, your last payment is worth about 3% less in purchasing power. Here are 79 cards that offer 0% interest on purchases or more.

Chase TravelPlus Visa (apply here)
0% on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months
17.49% variable APR (standard)

This card, in addition to the introductory APR offer, provides 2 miles for every $1 spent on travel-related purchases and 1 mile for every $1 on other categories. There is a $29 annual fee for the rewards program, however.

Discover Business Miles Card (apply here)
0% APR on purchases for 12 months
13.99% APR on purchases (standard)

You don’t have to have a business to apply and be accepted for this card, as with any business card. With this card, you also earn miles which can be redeemed for travel credits. The standard Discover Business Card offers a similar introductory rate, but rather than miles, earns the spender 5% cash back on office supplies, 2% on gas, and 1% on all other purchases.

GM Business World MasterCard (apply here)
0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months
13.49% APR on purchases (standard)

The GM Business World MasterCard offers cash back with no limit. You can earn 3% cash back on fuel, restaurant, office supply, and GM parts and service purchases. All other purchases earn you 1% cash back. Also, if you purchase or lease a GM vehicle, you will be given a $500 credit on your statement. I’m not a GM fan, but if you are, this could be a good way to save money.

Here are more 0% interest introductory offers on purchases, balance transfers and cash advances.

Chase Business Cash Rewards Card: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months 12 months
Chase Platinum Business Card: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months
Chase Business Rebate Visa Card: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months
American Express Platinum Business FreedomPass: 0% APR on purchases for 12 months
American Express Blue Cash for Business Card: 0% APR on purchases for 6 months

American Express Platinum Business Card: 0% APR on purchases for 12 months
American Express SimplyCash Business Card: 0% APR on purchases for 12 months
Citi Professional Cash Card: 0% APR on purchases for 12 months
Citi Professional Card: 0% APR on purchases and for 12 months
Citi Professional Card With ThankYou Network: 0% APR on purchases for 12 months

Consumer Reports surveyed customers in an effort to find the best credit card companies when it comes to incidences of interest rate problems, incidences of bill-timing problems, and effectiveness of problem resolution. If you’ve paid for a subscription to Consumer Reports, you can view the results here.

At the very top of the list is USAA Federal Savings with a score of 95 out of 100. The first major credit card issuer on the list, American Express, scored an 84, and was followed closely by Discover.

Other notable scores include Citibank with 75, HSBC with 73, and Capital One with 71.

The only card I’ve ever had trouble with was a Best Buy card, which was actually operated by Household Retail Banking Services (aka. Household Bank, aka. HSBC). I had purchased a notebook computer many years ago with a 0% for 12 months offer to allow me to do some web work alongside by non-profit day job. I didn’t receive statements, and some of my payments were sent in late. I argued the point with customer service and was able to reverse the company’s decision to charge me back interest.

Many years later, I had some problems playing with 0% APR arbitrage using Discover and MBNA and didn’t attempt such schemes since. MBNA scored a 72 on Consumer Reports’ survey, just above Capital One.

Credit card companies want to drag customers in, and sometimes offer nice bonuses to encourage applications. If you know how to handle a credit card, bonuses can pay off nicely. Here is an updated list of current bonuses available. This past June I listed a few credit card bonuses, but this list is more complete.

Please note that many of these bonuses are available for a limited time only, so if you’re interested in any particular offer, it’s best to act now and not procrastinate. For example, the first offer below, 25,000 miles from AmEx Business Gold Rewards Card, expires in just a few days.

American Express Business Gold Rewards Card

Sign-Up Bonus: 25,000 bonus points, redeemable for a free round-trip airline ticket on any carrier or $250 gift card.

Discover Business Miles Card

Sign-Up Bonus: 12,000 bonus miles with first purchase.

American Express Platinum Business FreedomPass Card

Sign-Up Bonus: 5,000 bonus points with first purchase.

American Express JetBlue Business Card

Sign-Up Bonus: 50 TrueBlue points with first purchase.

American Express Gold Delta SkyMiles Card

Sign-Up Bonus: 15,000 bonus miles with first purchase, additional 2,500 miles for adding an additional card member.

American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Business Card

Sign-Up Bonus: 10,000 Starpoints with first purchase.

Citi Professional Card with ThankYou Network

Sign-Up Bonus: 10,000 bonus points with after $250 in purchases, redeemable for $100 gift card

United Mileage Plus Platinum Business Card

Sign-Up Bonus: 17,500 bonus points with first purchase, one $25 United Discount Travel Certificate, and one One-way, 1,000 mile, One-class Upgrade Certificate.

Amazon.com Business Visa Card

Sign-Up Bonus: 1,500 bonus points with first purchase.

Miles by Discover Card

Sign-Up Bonus: 12,000 bonus miles with first purchase.

There are 25 more bonus-bearing cards listed below! Continue reading for the rest. Read the rest of this article »

Warning! Taking advantage of credit card companies may be fun and profitable, but it is dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing, or if you do know what you’re doing but are not careful. If you miss one payment, in most cases, you will owe back interest at the default rate.

That being said, here are a bunch of credit cards offering 0% APR on purchases for a year or six months. Use these cards responsibly, and you can save yourself money two ways. First, you can earn interest on your cash while paying off the card, and second, you can use inflation to your advantage. For example, if you pay $100 each month for thirteen months, your last payment is worth about 3% less in purchasing power. Here are 50 cards that offer 0% interest on purchases or more.

Chase TravelPlus Visa (apply here)
0% on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months
17.49% variable APR (standard)

This card, in addition to the introductory APR offer, provides 2 miles for every $1 spent on travel-related purchases and 1 mile for every $1 on other categories. There is a $29 annual fee for the rewards program, however.

Discover Business Miles Card (apply here)
0% APR on purchases for 12 months
13.99% APR on purchases (standard)

You don’t have to have a business to apply and be accepted for this card, as with any business card. With this card, you also earn miles which can be redeemed for travel credits. The standard Discover Business Card offers a similar introductory rate, but rather than miles, earns the spender 5% cash back on office supplies, 2% on gas, and 1% on all other purchases.

American Express SimplyCash Business Card (apply here)
0% APR on purchases for 12 months
8.25% APR on purchases (standard)

In addition to the 0% offer and the competitive standard APR, this card offers 5% cash back on gas, office supplies, and wireless services, and 1% cash back on virtually all other purchases. Your cash back is credited to your statement monthly, one of the most convenient methods of receiving credit card rebates.

American Express Platinum Business FreedomPass Card (apply here)
0% APR on purchases for 12 months
12.24% APR on purchases (standard)

American Express offers points on the FreedomPass card, starting with a 5,000 point bonus just for making your first purchase. The points can be redeemed for travel.

Here are more 0% interest introductory offers for purchases. Some of these credit cards also offer 0% on balance transfers and cash advances.

Gold Delta SkyMiles Business Credit Card: 0% APR on purchases for 6 months
American Express Blue Cash Credit Card: 0% APR on purchases for 6 months
American Express Blue Cash for Business Card: 0% APR on purchases for 6 months
American Express Platinum Business Card: 0% APR on purchases for 12 months
American Express Gold Delta SkyMiles Business Card: 0% APR on purchases for 6 months

Chase Platinum Business Card: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months
GM Business Card: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months
Chase Business Rebate Visa Card: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months
Chase Business Cash Rewards Card: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months
Amazon.com Business Visa: 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months

If you use credit cards for regular expenses rather than excessive spending and pay your balance off each month, you should be getting something back for the money you’re making for the credit card companies. Some of the options out there include cash back, 0% APR balance transfers, 0% APR on purchases, and sign-up bonuses.

Here are some of the current best offers for credit card users who are frequent fliers.

American Express Business Gold Rewards Card

This card is currently offering 25,000 bonus points, credited to your account in two partial rewards six to eight weeks after your first purchase. The 25,000 points can be redeemed for one domestic airline ticket, for a fee of $0.0004 per point up to $50.

The American Express Business Gold Rewards Card carries an annual fee, waived for the first year.

Chase TravelPlus Visa

This card, in addition to a 0% APR introductory APR offer on purchases and balance transfers, provides 2 miles for every $1 spent on travel-related purchases and 1 mile for every $1 on other categories. There is a $29 annual fee for the rewards program, however.

Discover Business Miles

Like the American Express Business Gold Rewards Card, you don’t have to actually have a business to apply and be accepted for this card. With this card, you earn one mile for every dollar, but gas and travel purchases earn double miles. You can begin to redeem rewards once you earn 5,000 miles.

The Discover Business Miles is also currently offering 0% APR on purchases for 12 months.

American Express JetBlue Business Card

If you’re a frequent customer of JetBlue, consider the American Express JetBlue Business Card. This card offers 25 TrueBlue points after the first purchase, putting you on your way to earning a free flight with 100 TrueBlue points. As an extra bonus, your first purchase earns you a $50 credit.

The card, with its $40 annual fee, entitles the holder to a 5% discount on JetBlue purchases. If you spend $800 or more on JetBlue flights in one year, the card pays for itself, just taking the discount into account.

American Express Gold Delta SkyMiles Business Card

Again, the Gold Delta SkyMiles Business Card does not require a business. The Federal Tax ID for your business is not required on the application. The benefits of this card include 15,000 bonus miles after your first purchase, 1,000 bonus miles for each of the first 5 additional cards submitted with your application, 5,000 bonus miles every year when you spend $15,000, and 5,000 bonus miles every year when you spend $25,000.

The annual fee of $85 is waived for the first year, and AmEx is currently offering 0% APR on purchases for 6 months.

Like the JetBlue card, Delta flights purchased with this card qualify for a 5% discount.

American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Business Card

As a commenter pointed out, the AmEx Starwood Preferred Guest Card allows the user to accumulate points which can be transferred to participating airlines as miles. Points are also earned for each dollar spent. AmEx will start you off with 10,000 points after your first purchase.

Any dollar spent at a Starwood hotel (Four Points, Sheraton, W Hotels, Westin, et.al.) earns two points. Transferring 20,000 points to an airline’s miles program earns you 5,000 additional points. The $30 annual fee is waived for the first year.

I don’t recommend chasing rewards offered by credit cards unless you pay your balances off each month, avoiding late fees and interest charges. Once you start paying interest to the credit card companies, the rewards come at too high a cost. Credit card rewards should only be sought by Type B credit card users.

Here are several credit cards the provide the best rewards for drivers through rebates on gas purchases as well as a few other benefits. It’s difficult to find good credit cards as the companies are pulling back their offerings. If you’re interested in making the most out of your money, jump on these offers before they disappear.

But beware—if you are not in control of your spending, credit cards can be dangerous tools. Don’t spend more than you can afford.

Discover Open Road Card (apply here)

This card is offering 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months. What makes the Discover Open Road card great for drivers is the 5% cash-back bonus on gas purchases and auto maintenance, but in the fine print, that bonus is limited to your first $1,200 in purchases each year. Starting in October, this limit is measured on a monthly basis—the most rewards are earned on the first $100 spent each month.

If you shop online through the Discover network, you can also receive 5% to 20% back. Watch out for cash advance and balance transfer fees.

CitiBank Drivers Edge (apply here)

For the first 12 months, the Citi Drivers Edge card presents a 6% cash back rebate at gas stations, drugstores, and supermarkets. After that introductory period, the rebate is reduced to 3%, which is still higher than a lot of other cards. All other purchases generate 1% cash back.

The card also features a fairly high limit of $1,000 each year. That’s the amount of cash back that would be generated from almost $17,000 of gas station spending. What’s neat is you also receive $1 cash back for every mile you drive. Considering that, it wouldn’t be difficult at all to hit the maximum cash back limit.

Note: As mentioned in the comments below, the rewards gained from this card must be used for purchasing or leasing a vehicle or on service for your current vehicle.

Chase PerfectCard MasterCard (apply here)

The Chase PerfectCard MasterCard has features similar to the Citi Drivers Edge card. Unfortunately, the 6% rebate is only available for 90 days and only gas station purchases are eligible. After the first 90 days, the gas station rebate is reduced to 3%, while all other purchases generate 1% cash back.

The difference with this card is that your rebates are automatically credited to your credit card to pay for future purchases. That’s good if you plan on continuing use of the card.

Chase BP Visa (apply here)

I would recommend this card only if you visit BP stations for getting your gas. This card offers a whopping 10% rebate for the first 60 days for purchases at BP. Take into consideration that you can probably find gas stations close to BP that offer gas for less money. After the introductory period, you still get a 5% rebate when shopping at BP. The card also offers some other decent rebates as well. Here are the details.

In addition to receiving your rebates as $25 gift cards to BP or $25 checks, you can also directly donate your rebate to The Conservation Fund, an environmental charity.

This month’s issue of Money Magazine contains an article with credit card recommendations for a variety of spending types. Here’s the run-down.

For big spenders: Blue Cash from American Express.

This card offers an introductory 0% APR on purchases for six months, but the best feature is the cash back reward program. The program offers 5% cash back on purchases made at supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations and 1.5% on everything else if you spend $6,500 within twelve months. That’s what makes this card good for people who can put a significant portion of their expenses on the credit card. Without spending $6,500, the cash back terms are only 1% and 0.5% respectively. One other good point is that there is no limit to the amount of cash back you can receive.

If you carry a balance: Discover More Card.

I don’t know. If you’re carrying a balance, you’re paying interest. The interest you pay would offset any rewards you could earn. That’s why Money Magazine suggests a card with an introductory APR of 0% for an entire year. The good thing about this card is while you’re taking time to pay off your purchases with what is in effect a free loan, you’re also earning 5% cash back. Here are five more cards offering 0% APR on purchases. Warning: use of leverage should be reserved for those who do not have problems managing their money.

If you are an active driver: Citi Driver’s Edge Platinum Select MasterCard.

Nice. This card offers 6% cash back on purchases at supermarkets, drug stores, and gas stations for one year, and 3% after the first year. You also earn $1 for every 100 miles you drive, but the total rebate is capped at $1,000 a year. To make the most of rebates, this card can be used in conjunction with another cash back card. This may be a good replacement for my Citi Dividend Platinum Select MasterCard.

If you are an active driver: Discover Open Road Card.

Here’s another option for drivers. After passing a $3,000 threshold, all purchases earn 1% cash back, except for gas and auto maintenance, which earn 5%. You also receive 5% cash back on purchases through Discover’s merchant network. I’m not a fan of having to pass a minimum spending amount first, but depending on your spending patterns, this card could pay off well.

If you are a traveler: Discover Miles Card.

This is not a cash back card. The Discover Miles Card rewards the credit card holder with one mile for every dollar you spend. Miles can be redeemed as gift card for merchant’s in Discover’s network in addition to the traditional airline tickets. The miles are accepted with any airline and there are no black-out dates. By the way, they’ll give you 12,000 bonus miles the first year.

The article also mentions Capital One No Hassle Mile Rewards Card, which earns you 1.25 miles for each dollar, but has a complicated redemption system. One might even say it’s a hassle to redeem the awards.

If you’re a “skinflint:” Chase Freedom Visa Card.

This card doesn’t seem as impressive as some of the other cash back rewards cards. It does offer a 0% introductory APR for 6 months and 3% cash back on supermarkets, gas stations, and fast-food restaurants. I suppose therein lies the strength of this card. However, after you spend $600 during any monthly billing cycle, the reward drops back to the default for all purchases, 1%.

All in all, Money Magazine made some good recommendations. It’s getting more difficult to lock in great cash back rewards as credit card companies continue to cut back. But free money is still free money. These are companies that will pay you to use their money for free. Why do they do this? It’s not out of the goodness of their hearts. Companies offer these benefits for two very specific reasons. One: they think you will slip up and start paying interest fees. Two: the merchants pay the credit card company a small percentage of each transaction.

This translates to big bucks for the credit card companies. The least they can do is throw you some money as you help them make their annual profits goals.

For people who are responsible with managing money, sometimes it makes sense to pay for large purchases with a 0% APR loan or credit card. The reasoning is fairly simple. If you have a card that is offering an introductory rate of 0% on purchases, and if inflation for the year is running 3% to 4%, then the value of the $100 you’re paying by the time the full amount of debt is paid off is 3% to 4% less than the $100 you were paying at the beginning of the term.

Also, smart purchasers only buy what they can afford. Assuming you have the cash, you can get a significant effective discount by depositing the cash you would normally use to make this large purchase into a high-yield savings or money market account, like the one offered by HSBC Direct, and pay off the credit card directly from this account. This way you can benefit from both the earned interest and inflation.

There are always tight rules when cards offer 0% introductory rates, and the companies would prefer to make money off of you. They will wait for you to fall into one of the many traps, one of which is a late payment. If you miss the payment deadline, the credit card issuer will charge you all accrued interest at the regular, non-introductory rate. In addition to the interest, you’ll have to pay late penalties.

An annual fee would also reduce the benefit of leverage. The cards listed below are all no-fee credit cards.

Be careful. If you have revolving debt, this technique is not for you. Pay off your debt, curb your spending, alter your mindset, then start thinking about using leverage for large purchases. If you’re ready now, feel free to check out these good deals.

Discover Business Miles Card or Discover Business Card.

These are “business” cards, but you do not have to be a business owner to apply and use these cards. Both cards are offering 0% interest on purchases for one year. With the miles card, you can earn “double miles” on gas and travel expenses. The miles can be redeemed for travel credit (any airline, any date) and gift cards.

The non-miles card gives you cash back, to the tune of 5% on office supplies, 2% on gas and up to 1% on all other purchases. There is no yearly limit to rewards, and if you use the rewards for purchases from retailers within Discover’s network, they count double.

American Express Platinum Business FreedomPass Card.

The FreedomPass card offers a 0% interest rate on purchases for one year. Each dollar you spend earns one point. These points are like Discover’s miles; they can be redeemed for travel expenses like flights, hotels, and rental cars, with no restrictions or black-out dates. The card offers a nice bonus, as well. You’ll receive 5,000 bonus points with your first purchase.

GM Business Card.

The GM Business Card also offers 0% on purchases for 12 months, but it also offers the same interest rate on balance transfers. Don’t get carried away, though. While this card is good for basic leverage, if you’re looking to earn cash back, use this card only if you know you’ll be purchasing a vehicle from the GM family of brands. Every purchase earns 1% cash back except for fuel, restaurants, office supplies, and GM parts and service, which earn 3%. That cash back must be used to purchase the latest Chevrolet, GMC, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac, Saturn or Hummer vehicles within 5 years.

Chase Platinum Visa Business Card.

The Chase Platinum Visa Business Card, like the GM card, offers 0% interest on both purchases and balance transfers for 12 months. This card doesn’t offer cash back or miles, but by being a customer with the Chase Platinum Visa Business Card, you qualify for discounts of up to 20% at retailers, in addition to special offers on computer equipment and business supplies.

Update: The CitiBank Diamond Preferred Card is also offering 0% APR on purchases for up to 12 months.

While the above cards are technically “business” cards, which explains the discounts and perks on office supples and travel, you do not have to be self-employed or a business owner to apply for and use these cards. The important point is that the card you choose should be used just for one major purchase, after which the card should not be closed but remain unused except for periodic, on-time payments to pay down the balance within a year.