US Bank Shield

Twenty-one months of 0% intro APR on both purchases and balance transfers, with no annual fee, is the entire argument for the Shield, and it's a strong enough one to make it our top overall pick among 0% APR cards. If you're paying down existing debt or spreading a large purchase across the next year and a half, very few cards hand you that much runway for free. The tradeoff is that rewards are almost nonexistent: 4% back on prepaid travel booked through the U.S. Bank Travel Rewards Center is the only earn rate, with nothing at all on everyday spending. That leaves little reason to keep the card active once the intro window closes. The $20 annual statement credit for 11 consecutive months of purchases and the cell phone protection are minor extras, not reasons to apply, and the foreign transaction fee means this isn't a travel card despite that 4% portal rate.