Ten things that you need to know about 0% credit cards

Credit cards with zero per cent interest may be under threat, but the past two weeks have seen the launch of a number of attractive-looking deals. Here's what you need to know.

· Now is a good time to take out a 0 per cent card. Following a recent Office of Fair Trading ruling that late payment fees should be capped at £12, some analysts are warning that card companies may look to recoup money by stopping such deals or imposing annual fees.

· Capital One has just launched a balance transfer card at 0 per cent until August 2007 while Sainsbury's Bank has released a card with a 0 per cent purchase rate for 12 months. Rival Tesco launched a card two weeks ago with 0 per cent on balance transfers and purchases until January, reverting to 12.9 per cent after that.

· PayPal, the money transfer division of eBay, will be offering its account holders a credit card later this month. It will have a balance transfer rate of 0 per cent for the first six months and 12.9 per cent on purchases.

· The length of 0 per cent deals has come down - the majority are now for six months.

· Balance transfer fees are now the norm. These are charged as a percentage of the balance transferred. Some providers cap fees at, say, £50; others, increasingly, don't. Consider this - and the new card provider's standard interest rate - before switching to a 0 per cent deal.

· Card providers have different policies on the 'order of repayments'. 'The majority of the time, the cheaper or 'free' card debt is paid off first. It can get awfully messy,' says Andrew Hagger of Moneyfacts.

· Consider lenders such as HSBC, First Direct and Nationwide, which will apply your repayments to the most expensive debt first.

· Taking out one 0 per cent card for balance transfers and another for new purchases is another way around the 'order of repayments' problem.

· Consider switching cards at the end of a 0 per cent period if you still have a balance. Cards with a limited 0 per cent period often revert to higher-than-average standard rates. Marks & Spencer Money, for example, has just put the standard rate on its 0 per cent card up from 15.9 to 16.9 per cent.

· A card with a low balance transfer rate for life could be an alternative to a 0 per cent deal. Best is the British Airways/American Express card, which charges 4.9 per cent interest on a balance transfer until it is cleared.