Getting a 0% APR for 1 year on both purchases and balance transfers is not as easy as it used to be.  In January of 2007, just about every credit card company issued at least one credit card with a 0% APR that applied to both types of transactions.  As of march 14th of this year, the number has dwindled dramatically.  Currently, both Chase and CitiBank issue credit cards that offer 0% interest on purchases and balance transfers.  The remaining issuers either offer a 0% APR on either purchases or balance transfers, or 0% rates that are less than one year. 

Bank of America also issues a number of credit cards that offer a 0% APR on balance transfers and cash advances.  However, they do not offer a card with a 0% APR for 1 year on purchases and balance transfers.

Discover offers a tiered structure of 0% for 1 year on balance transfers and 0% for 6 months on purchases. 

American Express still offers one card with a 0% APR on purchases for 15 months, but no cards with 0% deals on purchases and balance transfers.

Overall, the movement away from offering consumers a 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers is a disturbing trend.  Hopefully, the credit card companies won’t strip us of all the good offers.

A number of recent articles in the Wall Street Journal as well as MSN money have cited reports that credit card companies are pulling back on consumer lending.  One area of particular concern to saavy credit card users is the 0% APR offer.  In an MSN Money article published Monday, the author explored the ominous theme, “Are 0% APR Offers Disappearing?”

As of now, the number of 0% offers hasn’t changed.  However, recent visitor feedback seems to indicate getting approved for a top tier deal, such as a 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for a year, is getting harder.  A number of visitors who believed they had very good credit wrote they were either rejected or recieved a card with a lower than expected credit limit.

 Smart Credit Choices will be monitoring the situation.  As more details become available, we’ll let our readers know here.