Nationwide has announced that it will offer a 50% discount on the transfer fee on both of its balance transfer credit cards for a limited period.
The Nationwide Visa Credit Card and the Nationwide Select Credit Card, which both come with 20 months interest-free on balance transfers, will have the normal fee of 3.1% halved to 1.55%.
Only existing FlexAccount holders can get a hold of the Nationwide Select Credit Card but the Nationwide Visa is available to everyone.
Balance transfer cards
If you want to get rid of expensive credit card debt a 0% balance transfer credit card is a good way to go about it.
The only problem is it can be a bit of a balancing act!
You need to ensure you get a card that lasts long enough for you to pay the debt you transfer off before interest kicks in again, but you also want to keep the cost of doing a transfer down.
The fee that accompanies longer lasting balance transfers ranges between 2-3% normally, so the 50% discount offer from Nationwide can help make these cards more affordable.
Let’s take a look at the costs of balance transfers lasting more than 20 months to see how the Nationwide offer stacks up.
Long lasting balance transfers
|
Credit Card |
Fee |
0% period |
Cost of a £2,000 transfer |
|
1.55% |
20 months |
£31.00 |
|
|
1.55% |
20 months |
£31.00 |
|
|
1.90% |
23 months |
£38.00 |
|
|
2.10% |
24 months |
£42.00 |
|
|
2.85% |
22 months |
£57.00 |
|
|
2.90% |
22 months |
£58.00 |
|
|
3% |
21 months |
£60.00 |
|
|
3% |
21 months |
£60.00 |
|
|
3% |
23 months |
£60.00 |
|
|
3.20% |
22 months |
£64.00 |
|
|
3.50% |
23 months |
£70.00 |
*Must hold a FlexAccount with Nationwide
As you can see the half price offer from Nationwide has positioned its two cards as the cheapest out of the longest lasting balance transfer credit cards. Transferring a balance of £2,000 will cost £31.00 and you will have just under two years to pay it off.
If you need more time the longest lasting 0% balance transfer credit card around at the moment lasts a full two years and comes from Barclaycard. The provider recently dropped the price of a balance transfer from 3.2% to 2.1% so this premium card is more affordable now.
For those not chasing the longest 0% period there are plenty of cheaper cards to choose from with fees around the 1% mark. Check out our comparison centre to see the best low cost balance transfer credit cards.
More on credit cards:
The best cashback credit cards
Barclaycard launches 4.9% three-year balance transfer credit card