Money Fix: Is 0% really a credit-card deal?

With credit card interest rates averaging about 14 percent, a 0 percent offer sounds good. However, it's only as good as you are smart about using the card. How not to blow a 0 percent deal:

"Cardholders get used to making the minimum payments without penalties and interest. They forget when interest rates kick in and how much they'll be," says Howard Dvorkin, founder of Credit Counseling Services in Fort Lauderdale. Pay off the balance before the offer expires, otherwise you're kicking the debt can down the road.

"You can be thrust into the other end of the rate spectrum with penalty rates, which can be 30 percent and higher, and apply retroactively to the date of the account opening," says Ben Woolsey, CreditCards.com director of marketing/consumer research.

Kevin Gallegos, a vice president for Freedom Financial Network in Phoenix, says, "Credit card issuers are in business to make money. Carefully review any balance transfer."