Confused by credit cards..

First off, what are you looking for - 0% purchases, or 0% balance transfers ? They are 2 different beasts. The purchases gives you a promotional rate of 0% APR on any purchases put through the card ( and I think this is what you want, for an occasional car hire - though make sure that you're still within the promotional period ). Balance transfer - this allows you to "pay off" an existing balance on an interest-bearing card, and shift it to a promotional 0% APR rate on another card. There is usually a Balance Transfer fee, expressed as a percentage of the amount transferred - you need to calculate whether the fee outweighs the interest you'd otherwise be paying.

But you say that "I only have a credit card to rent cars in the USA". If that's the case, can you not set up a Direct Debit to pay the statement balance in full every month ? That way you can use the card, and the APR is irrelevant - you'll pay no interest anyway.

One caveat - beware of spending on a balance transfer card. Read the T&Cs carefully, particularly with respect to how your payments are allocated. Rules 'n' regs have tightened up considerably, thankfully to the consumer's favour. But it's often far simpler to keep one card for balance transfers, and another for spending.

Finally - yes, multiple applications in a short space of time will reflect badly on your credit file. Rightly or wrongly, lenders will see this as a sign that you're desperate for money. One or two applications is fine, more than this starts to ring alarm bells. Leave it at least six months before making another application.

OK. This is going to sound horribly judgemental, and I don't mean it to be .. but, you're looking to transfer your existing debt, and also spend more on a card ?

First off, 0% cards are usually only offered to those with a good credit history ( ignore your "score", it's worthless ). Yes, transferring an interest-bearing debt to interest-fee is obviously sensible. But why do you want interest-free purchases as well ?

Where I'm coming from - what happens when the interest-free promotion runs out, and you switch to their standard APR ? There's no guarantee that you can get another 0% card to switch to, and you're suddenly lumbered with the interest.

But if you're currently only paying the minimum, and throwing extra at the debt as and when ( which, in itself, is admirable ), this would appear to indicate that you're struggling ? The last thing you want to be doing is running up more CC debt.

Sorry, like I say, this is not meant to be a dig. Just coming from someone who's been there, done that etc. and come out the other side a lot wiser, though not without a heck of a lot of troubles and heartache :-)

Please stop applying for cards. Otherwise your rating/score/report, will tank faster than the titanic!