Contents
The Offer
Discover card is sending out the following offer via email (from: discover@services.discover.com):
- Enroll and get 6 months of .90% APR on purchases from 7/10/25 – 1/9/26. Afterward the regular 19.24% rate applies.
Our Verdict
We often see these types of offers from various banks on balance transfers, but those have 3-4% fees on the initial balance transfer. This offer I got from Discover for purchases so there are no fees involved. I’m not sure how widely this offer was sent out.
Personally I skip offers to hold balances on personal cards since it can tank your credit score. Also, I usually use other cards that earn me more rewards, and so to my mind this offer isn’t ‘free’. Just putting this out there for those who find these interesting.
Regardless, I wouldn’t recommend carrying a balance on a credit card unless you know yourself as organized enough to pay it down before the higher fees start.
View Comments (16)
I have 0% APR for 12 months. Is there a way to use this "effectively"?
Look up http://www.discover.com/credit-cards/member-benefits/cash-over-purchases.html
120*30=$3600/month. The only reason I havent closed that awful card.
It is every 24 hours so you end up getting a bit latter each day. Though it is quite a bit per month you can do. Have tried 23 hours latter and no go until later in the day. Most grocery stores limit 50 to 60 per transaction but never had an issue doing two or more transactions back to back to get to 120 (Meijer's limit is $50).
@guest_2096303 You could put all your spend on it and keep that money in a HYSA, but note that being a personal card, the high balance might be a negative mark on your score. I take advantage of those intro percentages but only on biz cards to avoid the ding. Not really sure how bad the ding is though. I probably wouldn't go it if you're looking for a loan anytime soon.
Makes sense, got it. :) Useless for me then.
'ding ' only lasts while you have the balance. So not a deal breaker for someone not looking immediately for cards and loans. And paying off the balance generally repairs the score in 30 days. In fact that's part of one of the most per advice credit myths****
**** Say your score is 780 and would and would rise to 784 in 6 months just by paying off balances in full each month.
Instead (according to the myth you should charge a balance to the card , tank your score to say 740. And at that point your score will slowly increase to 784 over those 6 months ! And try convincing someone that this doesn't increase your score! In fact, it must work! The score is not only higher every month, but at the end it's 4 points higher than when you started! We should all jump for joy at any opportunity to pay banks interest!
(Warning , if you can't detect sarcasm or compare the size of two numbers , please carefully note that the end result is the same in both examples.)
I mean, if you really want to be hardcore I guess you could keep debt on a 0% card, invest what you would normally pay it off with, and then pay it all off right before the 0% promo period ends?
0% promos are just a means for credit card companies to feed off people who rack up debt at 0% promo rates, but then when it comes time to pay the balance in full they don't have it and thus can start racking up interest.
If you treat it as a short term loan, it's amazing. Idk of any business that gives out 12-18 month 3-4% loans
Wait, there are people that visit DoC that actually carry or juggle around a balance? lulz.
Not everyone gets 20 cards a year. We generally stay under 5/24 for chase bonuses and mostly do business card apps.
I don't see how this wouldn't be useful to anyone right after an application spree.
If it's 0% interest APR, you'd be silly not to.
Only silly on a biz card because it can f* up your utilization and prevent you from getting more cards. It is positive EV, but not so positive that it definitely makes up for the opportunity cost of using it.
Utilization has no memory, so you can pay it off and next cycle your score will jump back up.
Previously, you can just ask them for a 0% APR and you didn't need to be targeted. Inflation hurts!
I was targeted this offer a few months ago. I activated the offer, but I still pay my card off in full. It is just safe to activate the offer. You never know what life can throw at you unexpectedly.
Why pay the balance instead of putting in a high yield savings?
This is similar to increasing work withholding to get a larger refund at the end of the year. (In the first case not taking a 0% loan in the second giving the government a 0% loan.)
Granted both of these things are great for budgeting. I hate being inefficient, but I would recommend these things (along with Dave Ramsey) to my overspending cousin in a heartbeat.