
No annual fee
Available to new customers
Slash the interest on your credit card debt with a balance transfer and potentially save £1000's. We share our top picks and everything you need to know before taking the plunge.
Approval for any credit card depends on your status. The representative APRs shown represent the interest rate offered to most successful applicants. Depending on your personal circumstances, the APR you're offered may be higher, or you may not be offered credit at all. Fees and rates are subject to change without notice. It's always wise to check the terms of any deal before you borrow.
To access the longest possible 0% deals, you’ll need good credit and you’ll probably have to pay a small transfer fee – this can be added onto the balance you’re transferring. The absolute longest 0% deal currently available is 28 months, but it’s important to factor in the transfer fee and any ongoing fees when you’re picking the right deal for you.
Barclaycard Platinum 28 Month Balance Transfer Visa
28 months
0% interest on balance transfers
24.9%
Representative APR
£0
Account fee
Up to 56 days
Interest-free each billing period
Availability | Available to new customers |
---|---|
Min. income | 20000 |
Foreign usage charge (EU) | 2.99% |
Cash advance fee | 2.99% (min. £2.99) |
Although these offers won’t have the very longest 0% interest periods on the market, if the 0% periods that they do offer can give you long enough to clear your card debt, they’re likely to be the cheapest option.
NatWest Balance Transfer Credit Card
14 months
0% interest on balance transfers
0%
Balance transfer fee
24.9%
Representative APR
£0
Account fee
Availability | Available to new customers |
---|---|
Residency | UK resident |
Min. income | 10000 |
Foreign usage charge (EU) | 2.75% |
Cash advance fee | 3% (min. £3) |
Whether you’re looking to pay off your existing credit card debt or wanting to orgainise your debts into one place, with cards offering low or 0% interest for a specified period, a balance transfer card could help pay off your debt faster.
A balance transfer refers to the process of transferring your existing credit card debt to a new card issued by a different bank, in return for a lower interest rate during the introductory period. Most balance transfer credit cards have an introductory promotional rate which runs for a fixed number of months.
If used correctly, you could transfer your existing balance from a different bank and make use of a card with up to 12, 24, 30 months (or even longer!) 0% interest on your balance. This means that you could pay off your debt within this time period without any monthly interest being added on top, or pay off a considerable amount of debt before the monthly interest kicks in.
So, what’s the catch?
After your specified 0% balance transfer period ends the provider will begin to charge you monthly interest on your remaining balance, just like a usual credit card. There may also be a balance transfer fee to pay when you are moving existing debt to a balance transfer card. This fee, however, is usually low compared to the interest you may be paying on your current credit card balance. Even with this fee, a 0% interest rate usually means that you can clear your debt faster and more cheaply than you would if you remained with your current card.
Complete the fields above to estimate your monthly repayment
Let’s assume that you already have existing card debt and you want to save on interest by moving it to another card issuer.
Once you’ve picked a balance transfer deal, you’ll usually be prompted to check your eligibility. Provided its good news, you can then go ahead and apply for the new card.
During the application process, you’ll be asked if you want to transfer a balance and prompted to provide details of how much it is, which bank it’s currently held with and the account number.
When you’ve received your shiny new card (which can take up to two weeks) and activated it, the card issuer will then request the transfer of all outstanding funds from your old bank. From this point, the transfer will typically take around 1-3 working days. If there’s a transfer fee involved then this can be added to your balance.
From then on it’s over to you. You can pay as much or as little as you like each month, subject to the new card’s minimum repayment requirement (typically 1% or 2% of your outstanding balance). Ideally, you should pay enough each month to ensure you’re debt-free before the introductory low-rate period expires.
Most – but not all – balance transfer cards (particularly those with the longest promotional periods) charge a balance transfer fee. This is a one-time fee that’s calculated as a percentage of the debt you wish to transfer to the new card. Typically the balance transfer fee is between 1.5% and 3.5%. A minimum is usually also specified, so a card issuer might describe its balance transfer fee as “3% (minimum £5). So if you had a £2,000 debt to transfer, the transfer fee would cost you £60. If you had just a £150 debt to transfer, the fee would cost you £5.The fee is usually added to the balance and so also benefits from the 0% promotional period.
Use Finder’s eligibility checker (no effect on your credit score)
Exactly how much you’ll save will depend on the size of your debt, the length of the 0% balance transfer offer and your repayments, but you could save hundreds or thousands of pounds in interest while you clear your debt. Here’s an example:
Let’s say you have £3,000 debt on a card that’s currently charging 20% interest annually, but you’ve been offered a new card with 0% on balance transfers for 18 months, a 3% transfer fee and no annual fee.
Clearing your debt over 18 months would be around £407 cheaper using the new 0% card than it would on the old card. What’s more, you’d be debt-free three months sooner than if you’d made the same monthly repayments to your old card. All in all, a worthwhile exercise!
Remember that this isn’t based on simply paying the minimum monthly repayments, but on overpaying as much as is necessary to completely clear the debt before the revert rate kicks in. In this example you’d want to pay around £172 each month to clear the debt in time. To get that figure we divided £3,090 (the balance being transferred with the transfer fee on top) by 18 (the number of months in the introductory rate period).
Used intelligently, a 0% balance transfer card will reduce your interest payments and get you out of credit card debt faster. Used the wrong way, your debts can become larger and last, well, indefinitely. Ensure you don’t get trapped in problem balance transfer debt with our dos and don’ts.
Follow these five steps to successfully apply for a balance transfer credit card and improve your chances of approval:
Your new card issuer manages this process after both your card and the balance transfer are approved. You just need to provide details of your existing card when you apply. But if you want to close your old card, you’ll need to do that yourself by contacting your bank. If you don’t close your old account, you could be stuck with annual fees and any other maintenance costs that come with your existing account.
There’s a question over the future of 0% credit cards due to new rules designed to protect consumers, according to a campaigner.
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