as long as you make the minimum payment every month, it will not affect your credit score. in most cases, there are no service fees with these kinds of promotions. what the credit company really wants to do is attract those people to take out a loan at a low interest rate, ie 1.99% for a limited time (usually 6 months or 1 year) and if it's not paid off after the promotion period (a lot of local caucasians can't) then the balance will be charged at whatever the regular interest rate (20+%).