What are the benefits of 0% APR?

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Does this mean I would pay no interest?

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Yes

Yes and No. You are (usually) going to have to pay a fee to transfer the money to that card. The interest free benefits are usually for only 6-12 months. It might be beneficial in your situation.

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0% APR for Purchases for 12 months.
14.24% on Balance Transfers

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Any balance you transfer to the new card will be charged @ 14.24% until it is paid off. Only new purchases qualify for the 0%.

Since you do not have a card currently you should be ok.

The Chase Freedom card has 0% intro APR on balance transfers for ~12 months currently.

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The best thing to do would be to pay off the debt and use the card to "live" on

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I am single and make $60,000 a year. I don't need the card to live on. My remaining student loans are at a fixed 6.8% at $6,931. I can easily pay this off in a year. This would obviously save me a few hundred dollars on interest charges. Is this not the best route?

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Any balance you transfer to the new card will be charged @ 14.24% until it is paid off. Only new purchases qualify for the 0%.

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Would student loans be treated as a balance transfer? If that is the case, then this obviously is not a good solution.

FWIW I got an 18 month 0% APR offer and used it to pay for my bathroom renovation. It's now 20 months later and I paid it off on time, but didn't pay a cent of interest so it saved me a fair amount. Not only that but (believe it or not) the card gave me 5% cash back on purchases from home improvement stores. That plus the no interest saved me about $2000 on the project.

So yes, this can work out nicely.

Get square app charge the amount u need to pay of student loans. And eat the upfront fee. Assuming its chaper.

I definitely see your point! I have my AMEX which is 0% APR for the next 12 months. I save about $1,500 a month which goes straight to loans. So I'll be well under the 12 month deadline...if I could do that. Dang, guess I'll just pay the extra few hundred dollars.

You still have to pay the minimum monthly payment every month (for most cards this is 2-3% of the balance), but you don't have to pay the full balance due. For example, say you charge $1000 this month at the local strip club. Your statement will arrive in the mail showing a balance of $1000 with a minimum payment somewhere around $25. Instead of paying the full $1000 you can pay $25 to the card and use the $975 difference to pay down student loan debt. Normally this would be a very bad thing to do with a high interest rate, but at 0% APR it is actually a good deal financially.

But if you don't even pay the minimum then you are in big trouble. Most issuers will not report you as delinquent (which hugely dings your score) until you are 30 days late, but if you are even one day late they won't report you (i.e. there's no score impact at all) but will usually revoke the 0% APR term and start charging you the full purchase rate. Obviously don't do this - pay at least the minimum a few days ahead of time just to be sure.

Regarding your credit score, most scoring models will ding you slightly once you have a higher balance than 50% of your total available credit, another one after 80% or thereabouts, that sort of thing. But the hits on your score are not large and not permanent either. When you pay it back enough to bring the number back down again (which you will right???) you get the points back. I personally wouldn't worry about it.

So if you are diligent about making sure the minimums are met every month and the full balance is taken care of before the teaser period expires, this will save you some money. For only $150 or so it may not be worth your while though.