That cost gets reflected in the APR, but there's a big difference between, say, an APR of 7% that requires paying $10,000 to buy points versus an APR of 7% that does not require upfront costs ...

0% intro APR for 12 months from account opening on purchases and qualifying balance transfers. 19.24%, 24.24%, or 29.24% Variable APR thereafter; balance transfers made within 120 days qualify for ...

Therefore, the ideal APR is 0%, where you don't pay any interest on your balance. There are credit cards that offer that perfect rate, albeit only temporarily, but we'll get to that in a bit.