Update 2/24/12: Confirmed that this offer will expire at the end of February. Last year it also started in January and ran until the end of February, and didn’t come back until the next January. So get your applications in now if interested!

Update 1/9/12: Reader CC writes in with her success story, which differs from some previous reports of a one Discover card at a time limit. Please let me know if you have a different experience. I forget to add before – if you apply for the card and don’t get the credit line you want, call them up and tell them you want to do a $X,XXX balance transfer and they may work to accomodate you.

A few updates- I called Discover and they changed the policies again

1) you can have more than 1 credit card
2) You have to open a new card to get the promo they won’t apply it to the old one.
3)If you call and speak to a rep and give them a balance to transfer they will recalculate the credit line
4) They will let you transfer the old credit line to the new one ie I had a $7.3K balance on the old one so they left it open with $500 and gave me a new card with a $7K balance. I was able to keep my 5 yrs of credit history with the 1st card active. I’ll probably transfer the line back to the original place in a yr.
5) I just saved a year of interest on my Citibank student loans for $6,550 with 15 minutes of work 🙂

Back for 2012! Limited-time only. Just in time for some New Year debt-busting action, Discover has brought back the Discover More Card with No Balance Transfer Fee, offering 0% intro APR on both balance transfers and purchases for 12 months. You can literally borrow money for free and pay it back in 12 months (keeping in mind you’ll still need to satisfy the minimum payment each month until then). Use this opportunity to lower your interest rates and make every cent you pay go towards shrinking that principal. There are different versions of this card, so please use specific application link. No annual fee.

When you see the application, be sure to scroll down to the “Important Information” and verify that you are getting 0% for 12 months and no balance transfer fee. You should see the following text at the top under “Interest Rates and Interest Charges”:

APR for Balance Transfers: 0% intro APR for 12 months from date of first transfer, for transfers under this offer that post to your account by July 10, 2012.

And then the following a bit lower under “Fees”:

Transaction Fees * Balance Transfer – Intro fee of $0 for transfers that post to your account by 8/10/2012 with the 0% intro APR balance transfer offer described above. After that, 3% of the amount of each transfer.

Application Quick Tips
In order to get the highest credit limit possible, be sure to maximize your reported income as much as you can legitimately. You can no longer include the income of other people living with you, but do include things like freelance income, overtime, rental income, interest and dividend income, alimony, child support, etc.

If you wish to get cash directly from this balance transfer offer without it being classified as a “cash advance”, one tip is to request money to be transferred to other non-Discover credit cards that you have. This will create a negative balance, after which you request a refund check be sent to you. Citibank and American Express are recommended for this because they have automatic features on their websites to request a credit balance refund.

Arbitrage Opportunities?
Don’t have higher interest debt you wish to refinance? Really, the only thing I could see buying with this 0% money would be a US Savings I Bond that will earn you 3.06% for the first six months, and then a different rate based on inflation for the next 6 months. You can buy $5,000 in electronic bonds per person per year, and another $5,000 in paper bonds if you use your tax refund ($20k total for a couple).

Offer Comparison
Now, the Chase Slate® currently has a similar offer going, also 0% introductory APR for 15 months with $0 balance transfer fee. The good thing about Discover is that you can transfer balances on a Chase card to Discover, while you can’t transfer existing Chase balances to another Chase card. Other than that, why not take advantage of both? 🙂

“Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer. This site may be compensated through the issuer’s Affiliate Program.”

(Update 2/23/12: The Continental/United Airlines merger is almost complete, and the last official Continental flight taking off on March 2nd. The new company will be called United, so this Continental Airlines OnePass Plus Card will no longer be available as of the end of February (March 1st). This is your last chance to grab the 30,000 mile sign-up bonus if you’ve never had a Continental card before. “This one-time bonus offer is valid only for first-time Continental Airlines personal cardmembers with new accounts. Previous and existing Continental Airlines personal cardmembers/accounts are not eligible for this bonus offer.”

Note that the application for the United Explorer Card says that “United MileagePlus Explorer cardmembers will only receive one 25,000 bonus miles award if they apply for both the United Explorer Card and the Continental OnePass Plus Card after 7/19/2011.” This isn’t mentioned on the Continental application. If you only have the older United non-Explorer card, you should still be able to get the Continental bonus.)

The new Continental Airlines OnePass Plus Card from Chase has improved their sign-up incentive to include 30,000 free miles and a pretty nice mix of perks for travelers.

Sign-Up Bonus: Free Flight

• 25,000 Bonus Miles after first purchase (no minimum amount) for first-time Continental Airlines personal Cardmembers. That’s enough already for one free roundtrip airfare within the continental US.
• 5,000 More Bonus Miles for adding an authorized user to your account. This is another easy one to get. Remember, just because you add someone doesn’t mean you have to give them the card. 😉
• No annual fee the first year. The regular annual fee is $95, but is waived the first year.
• If you spend $25,000 on the card annually, you’ll get another 10,000 bonus miles. Since you earn 1 miles per $1 spent as well, this works out to 1.4 miles/dollar when you reach that mark.

Travel Perks

• Free checked bag. If you fly on Continental, you and a companion will each get your first checked bag for free. That’s a savings of $50 roundtrip, per person.
• Primary rental car insurance. Almost all personal credit cards only offer secondary rental car insurance, which means you have to file a claim with your own auto insurance first, which means you have to pay the deductible and possibly face higher future premiums. With primary collision damage waiver (CDW) even for personal use, you get coverage for damage or theft without having to make a claim.
• Additional travel insurance that isn’t on all cards, like trip cancellation insurance up to $1500 for a illness with doctor’s note , delayed baggage coverage up to $300 if you have baggage delayed more than 18 hours and need to buy items to get by.
• If you decide to keep this card past the first year, you’ll get two free passes to their First-Class airport lounge.

As you may have heard, Continental and United are merging, and the resulting airline is supposed to have the name United. Here’s a chance to rack up some miles that will eventually merge together.

Not good enough? Currently, there are also other ways to rack up $500+ in credit card bonuses…