Should I Get a 0% Interest Card?
This question comes up periodically - often when someone has seen ads for "0% APR for 18 months" or "0% balance transfer" promotions & wonders whether they should fold them into the strategy.
The short answer: 0% interest cards solve a different problem than what we're working on together. Here's the distinction.
What 0% Interest Cards Are For
A 0% interest card is designed for people who need to carry a balance & want to avoid paying interest on it. The card offers a promotional period (often 12, 15, 18, or 21 months) during which you pay no interest on either new purchases, transferred balances, or both.
The use case: you've got a balance you can't pay off in one cycle, & you want time to chip away at it without watching interest pile up.
This is genuinely useful for the right person in the right situation - someone paying down credit card debt, or financing a one-time large purchase they'll pay off over a year. Real value.
Why It's Not Part of My Ohana Program
My Ohana Program operates on a foundational rule: never carry a balance. Autopay set to full statement balance, every cycle, no exceptions. This is what protects the math of the whole program - because credit card APRs (often 20-29%) can wipe out months of welcome bonus value in a single missed cycle.
If you're never carrying a balance, the "0%" benefit is meaningless to you. You're not paying interest anyway. The promotional rate is solving a problem you don't have.
Meanwhile, 0% promotional cards typically come with weak or nonexistent welcome bonuses. The card is selling a financing benefit, not a rewards benefit. So opening one means:
Using a 5/24 slot
Earning a small or no welcome bonus
Getting a benefit (0% interest) you wouldn't be using anyway
That's a poor trade compared to using the same 5/24 slot for a card with a strong welcome bonus on spending you're already doing.
When a 0% Card MIGHT Make Sense
There's one scenario where it's worth considering separately from my Ohana Program: you have existing high-interest credit card debt you need to pay down.
If you're carrying a balance from before & paying significant interest, a balance transfer to a 0% card can save real money - sometimes thousands - while you pay it off. That's a legitimate financial move that has nothing to do with travel rewards.
A Note on Timing
If you're carrying a 0% balance (or any balance), there's a real practical issue with starting the travel rewards strategy: your credit utilization is probably high.
Utilization is the percentage of your total available credit (TAC) that you're currently using. If your total credit limits across all cards add up to $30,000 & you're carrying $6,000 in balances, your utilization is 20%.
I don't recommend applying for new cards when utilization is high - low utilization (e.g. under 10%) is what we want before opening new accounts. Higher utilization can hurt approval odds & cuts into the welcome-bonus engine before it ever gets started.
The right order of operations is usually: handle the existing balance first, get utilization low, then start the travel rewards strategy with a clean foundation. Once you're under 10% utilization, that's the right time to circle back.
My Focus
I'm all about welcome bonus cards & flying for free. 0% cards & debt-management aren't my kuleana - those questions are best handled by a financial advisor or credit counselor.
Related Questions
Important Disclosures
Educational guidance only - not financial, credit, or tax advice. Individual results vary based on card approval, spending habits, redemption choices, & timing. Approval for any credit card is subject to issuer criteria.
Hawaii Reward Travel may receive compensation when a customer clicks on a link, when an application is approved, or when an account is opened. This is how this free program is funded. Compensation does not influence guidance. Opinions are the author's alone & have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any bank, card issuer, or other entity.
