Exercise 1: Why APR, Not the "0%" Headline, Is the Real Comparison — Possible Solution ==================================================================== A "0% for 12 months" headline only describes the interest rate portion of the cost - it says nothing about other real costs like an arrangement fee, which the chapter's own definition of APR is specifically designed to fold in. Two cards can share the exact same 0% headline rate while genuinely costing different real amounts, purely because of a fee one of them charges and the other doesn't. The card with the £50 arrangement fee is genuinely more expensive overall than the fee-free card, even though both show an identical 0% interest figure - the £50 is a real cost that has to be paid regardless of the 0% rate, while the other card has no equivalent cost at all. Comparing only the headline "0%" figure would make the two cards look identical when they genuinely aren't; comparing their real APR figures (which account for the fee) would correctly reveal the fee-charging card as the more expensive option. ANSWER: Comparing APR rather than the "0%" headline is correct because APR folds in real additional costs like the £50 arrangement fee, which the interest rate alone doesn't capture. Even though both cards show identical 0% interest, the card with the fee is genuinely more expensive - a difference the headline rate alone hides but the real APR figure reveals. WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER ------------------------------ This correctly applies the chapter's own APR-vs-interest-rate distinction to a concrete scenario where the two products look identical on the surface but genuinely aren't, rather than treating the "0%" headline as the complete picture.