In these days of fabulous credit card deals offering us 0% interest free periods, the credit card lenders would have us believe that they are doing everything they can, to make the product that they are selling to us, as attractive as they can. They will inform us of all the advantages of taking out one of their, being very specific of the length of the 0% period and competitive APR in which the card reverts to when the 0% introductory offer is over.

It is really all good news for us and the idea of being able to spend someone else's cash, without the threat of interest charges for 9 months to a year, really makes the credit card that the lender is selling a worthwhile proposition. Add to that the opportunity to transfer any existing debt to the new credit card makes it a double whammy.

But wait, as you should always know there is a BUT. There are some things that they don't tell you and they all come in the form of trying to take something back. So what is really happening is that you are paying for the great deals, by losing out in other ways.

There are five main ways in which the credit card company will try to recoup the cash that they will ultimately lose in the period that covers your 0% deal.

1. The Repayment Period: This is the interest free period that most give you on any new purchases. If you pay off your balance within that period you will not be charged any interest. Normally you would be looking at 56-59 days before any charges take effect. But many credit card lenders have reduced the time scale of this period by 10 or more days. A recent example being Nationwide, who have cut theirs to 46 days from 56 days.
   
2. Minimum Monthly Payment: Making it as low as possible will help you feel as if you can spend more. This is the hope of the credit card lender, who will then start to draw in more cash when your account starts to see interest charges being apportioned to it. This has steadily dropped from 10% to an all time low of 2% now. Which means the less you pay back monthly, the longer to clear the debt, meaning the more interest charges being added. With the one winner being the credit card lender.
   
3. Late Payment Fees: If you have taken up the offer of one of the 0% deals, then one late payment could undo all of the savings that you were trying to make. By missing a payment, you could see interest being applied to your credit card from the very first day that you used it. Not only that they will kick you when you are down with a charge, which can be as high as £25, adding more insult to your injury.
   
4. Payment Protection Insurance: Ah! The old PPI, one the most expensive cover that you could probably have, and in most cases practically useless. PPI will account for what you owe on the credit card and are simply not a set fee that you would pay every month, for the duration of the year. So basically the further that you get into debt, the more PPI you pay, which in turn means that you are even further in debt. You would be better off without the PPI and using the money to reduce you debt.
5. Repaying Your Balance: Many credit card lenders have different systems in which they apply your payments to your debts. Most will however put your payment towards the smaller of the debts first, the cheapest in other words. This will mean that the interest that the larger of your debts will be more substantial than that of the smaller one. This is none more so true, than the 0% Balance Transfer deals. That means that if you spend on the credit card that is only giving you a 0% deal on the Balance Transfer and not on purchases, your payment will go towards clearing of that new jacket that you have just bought for £80 and not the £1,000 balance transfer that you have. This will leave you running a gauntlet of having to pay the interest on the £1,000 and not the £80 jacket.