Free credit cards - what a concept! We're all enticed by the very word free. The more common term for free credit cards, however, is 0% (or zero percent) APR credit cards. APR stands for annual percentage rate. In other words, free credit cards can refer to those that charge you no interest on the purchases you make with them.

Years, and decades ago, the APR was standard no matter which card you chose, and which financial provider. The APR simply depended on the bank rates, which in turn were influenced by the federal reserve. 18 percent was then a fairly standard APR. This was clearly not a time when free credit cards abounded and, in fact, competition wasn't very frenetic, because the rate was the same no matter which card you chose.

Then, however, monoline banks came into being. These banks, unlike the traditional financial institution that accepted deposits and gave out loans, served simply as issuers of credit cards. These still didn't create free credit cards, but they did have a decreasing effect on credit card APR, because competition for credit card users started to become stiffer.

Nowadays, unlike the past decades, you're almost certain to find introductory promotional offers on just about every credit card. While they won't always qualify as one of the free credit cards, most will qualify as low interest first year credit cards. The most popular, of course, are the free credit cards - the ones that offer the zero percent APR at least for the first year.

What's so great about these free credit cards? The primary usefulness is not for the new credit card user (although free is certainly an enticement - and useful - for novice or long time user, young or old) but for those who already have accumulated a hefty amount of debt from the use of cards that don't qualify as free cards.

As an example, let's say that you owe $5000 on a credit card whose APR is twenty percent. You're going to have to pay $1000 just to keep up with the interest. If, however, your credit card is a member of the free credit cards family, your $1000 payment will actually bring the principal down to $4000. What a difference, then, these free credit cards can make!

Free credit cards can best help you get out of debt when you transfer the balance of another high-interest APR credit card to the account of the free credit card.

You might also benefit from free credit cards that charge no annual fee. Some of these do this as a promotional gimmick, eliminating the annual for the first year only, and then charging anywhere from $19 to $250 each year thereafter. Some instead charge an annual fee in subsequent years only if you don't use the card for the number of purchases the free credit cards companies designate as your minimum requirement.