Review: Capital One Platinum Prestige Credit Card

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If you’re one of the millions of cardholders trying to pay off your debts, you should obviously look for the card with the lowest ongoing interest rate – but that’s not your only option. You could also consider a promotional balance transfer offer. The Capital One Platinum Prestige Credit Card features no annual fee and a zero percent rate for more than a year.

Advantages

  • Promotional financing. You receive 0% intro APR until September 2014 on balance transfers and 0% intro APR until September 2014 on purchases. However, there’s a 3 percent balance transfer fee.
  • Interest rates. The standard APR is 10.9 to 18.9 percent, depending on your creditworthiness. This is a variable rate tied to the prime rate.
  • Fees. No annual fee and no foreign transaction fees on this or any other Capital One card.

Disadvantages

  • No rewards. This card doesn’t earn any cash back or loyalty points. But its low interest rate and promotional financing should be enough of a reward for anyone carrying a big balance.
  • Balance Transfer fee. As mentioned above, transferring a balance from another card will cost 3 percent. That’s $300 on a $10,000 balance.
  • Tough qualifications. This card is only marketed to those with excellent credit. Those with less than a perfect credit history may not be approved. If your credit score isn’t good, consider a secured card.
  • No sign-up bonus. At a time when many cards are offering sign-up bonuses of cash back or loyalty points, this card survives on its generous promotional financing offer.

Bottom line

Get it if: You need a zero-percent-APR introductory financing deal but not an annual fee. Ideal for someone with historically good credit who has just recently run up some debt they want to dispose of at the lowest possible interest rate.

Forget it if: You want a sign-up bonus or credit card rewards, or if your credit isn’t good.

Note: While we attempt to be completely objective when reporting on credit cards, this site may be compensated by issuers when a reader applies for a credit card through the links within credit card stories or on our credit card search page. Also note that any terms, rates or other features described in this article can change without notice. Always double-check everything with the issuer before applying for any credit card.

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