While you're in the process of sticking it to the banks and riding their free 0% interest offers to accelerated debt reduction, real estate remodeling and greater financial freedom (a noble cause, by all measures), don't forget that you have to stay very alert, or it will be the bank that does the laughing. If you want the card issuers to give you thousands of dollars of free interest, you have to tip-toe across the twigs and stay out of their cleverly disguised financial quicksand. Based on countless interviews, scores of my own mistakes and the experience of clients I have advised, here's a summary of the card issuers Top 5 sinkholes and how to dance effortlessly past them.

1. The Overlimit Trap: "They knew my transfer put me over the limit.
Why didn't they refuse it?"
You've got that credit card with a $50,000 limit. That 0%-for-8-months cheque is just burning a hole in your pocket, and you're just giddy about saving $3000 in interest over 9mo, as you transfer $50,000 from your 9% home equity line. Go ahead and make the transfer, just make sure you leave yourself enough room under the limit. Even your measley $50 transaction fee can put you "Overlimit" if your card agreement give them permission for such. Most banks won't warn you. You'll just find out a month later, when you see your bill for the $50 overlimit fee + $1125, the cost of 30days of interest at 27% on $50,000. Oops. So much for that savings. If your offer is for low interest instead of no interest, don't forget to factor in that first month of interest, just in case they count interest as overlimit or change their terms. Leave yourself a cushion.

2. The Bait-and-Switch / Print-vs-Phone TRAP:
"Wow, this offer looked a lot better in the print Ad ".
Those balance transfer checks or new card opportunities which you receive in the mail often invite you to do a transfer right over the phone, even saying "quote this offer-code." Be careful. It may be tempting to do it over the phone, especially when you're promised the immediate transfer which is indeed faster than the 14 day wait while the check clears, but don't do it, unless you're very thorough. I know from first hand experience, that the offers on the end of the 800 call-in invitation often have apparently similar but far less attractive rates, fees and terms. This differentiation is not mentioned upfront, and even if you verbally confirm what seem to be the important bits, the real offer is "disclosed" only at the end of the conversation in almost indecipherable "barely compliant" legal verbiage read to you at 90mph usually by a hard-to-understand phone operator who gets a commission after the transfer is logged. Play it safe; go with the written offer.

3. The 'ol "introductory rate ends sooner than you think" TRAP
"I put the 19th down as my payback date, but somehow it was actually a month earlier."
You have to give your opponent in this game of credit card chess some "credit." They are impressively confusing on when your introductory 0% rate actually ends. Most of the print offers say vague things like "til July" or "for 8-billing cycles." If you call customer service 3 times for any given card, you'll likely have it explained 3 different ways, and you will never be confident enough to put a hard day on your calendar and just make sure it paid off a week early. The fine print that tells you exactly when the offer ends is intentionally unintelligible. Even the verbiage which says "until the billing cycle which includes July 15th" lacks the specificity it seems to offer. Billing cycles are often two cycle and they change from one month to the next. The key to avoiding this trap, is just to be way early on the re-transfer or payback. Give yourself one month cushion. The banks absolutely design these offers to end earlier than they appear to. And why wouldn't they? 29.9% default interest on $50,000 for just one month is $1125 of profit.

4. The Missing Transaction Fee Limit TRAP:
"You're kidding. That $50 fee was really $1500?"
Those 0% balance transfer checks often say at the bottom that the use of the "check is subject to a 3% transaction fee, with a maximum of $50". $50 is just fine with me for 6 months of 0% interest on $50,000. However, a few of these checks are strategically missing that last "limit" phrase. So if you are not paying attention and you use a check without a maximum limit, bam! You write that $49,000 check (leaving yourself plenty of room) only to later find out that the card issuer charged you 3% of the amount. Yes, that's 3% of $50,000, NOT 3% annual interest. So you just paid a fee of $1500 for your money and no time has even elapsed yet. Then you recall that this fee might put you overlimit, your rate bumps, and your whole strategy has exploded. The avoidance tactic here is simple alertness. Make sure there is an acceptable limit to the transaction fee.

5. The Universal Default TRAP:
"My late utility bill just changed the rate on all my cards."
Increasing numbers of card issuers are putting a razor sharp clause into their card agreements. The "Universal default" clause generally means that if you are late paying your bill to the credit card issuer OR TO ANY OTHER LENDER, the interest rate and terms on the credit card could be raised. Banks that utilize the universal default clause periodically check credit reports of their cardholders, and if they see a late payment somewhere, or even an increased debt load that impacts you negatively on their formula, they have the right to change your terms. So don't be late on your payments! And know what kind of universal default risks you are signed up for. To include, these trip wires should give you pause for concern, but don't let them deter you from the taking the bank's free money. Just stay alert, so that you actually get the deal you are after.

C. 2006 by Kent Weber, 2007, all rights reserved. Kent Weber is editorial director and resident credit card expert at http://www.AbleCredit.com. A real estate investor, financing consultant and mortgage planner, Kent has "optimized" hundreds of credit reports and helps clients expand their revolving credit capacity, identify the best credit card offers available, and use smart leverage to accelerate the path to debt reduction and financial freedom. Visit ablecredit.com for tips, card applications and more articles like this one.