Pay a small fee for balance transfers
A number of balance transfer cards are offering a decent period of interest-free payments, with only a minimal or even no transfer fee to pay.
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If you have debt on a credit card, then a 0% balance transfer credit card is a good idea.
However, balance transfer cards come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. You will need to ensure you get a long enough 0% period in order to clear the debt (or at least take control of it), but you also don't want to pay a massive transfer fee.
Cheapest 0% balance transfers cards
Here are the best cards around at the moment that offer balance transfer fees at 1.50% or under on 0% balance transfers. The table is ordered by the cheapest cards, in terms of balance transfer fee, and then length of interest-free period.
|
Credit card |
0% period |
Balance transfer fee |
Fee paid on £2,000 transfer |
Representative APR after 0% period ends |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
23 months |
None |
£0 |
16.5% |
|
| Tesco Bank Clubcard 18-Month No Fee Credit Card | 18 months | None | £0 | 18.9% |
|
19 months |
1% |
£20 |
18.9% |
|
|
24 months |
1.15% |
£23 |
18.9% |
|
|
Virgin Money Balance Transfer Credit Card |
26 months |
1.25% |
£25 |
18.9% |
|
28 months |
1.49% |
£29.80 |
18.9% |
*Annual fee of £24
The Santander 123 Credit Card freezes interest for nearly two years. However, there is an annual fee of £24 to consider.
As a result, the 18-month 0% period from the Tesco Bank Clubcard 18-Month No Fee Credit Card combined with no fee is perhaps the best of the lot.
If you think you'll need even longer, there are 0% balance transfer credit cards offering up to 36 months interest free, but they come with far higher balance transfer fees. You can read more about these in The best 0% balance transfer credit cards.
It's worth pointing out that you'll need to have a good credit rating to qualify for most of these cards.
If you keep being turned down, don't carry on applying, as you'll hurt your credit rating. Instead, try to make some cutbacks if you can and pay off more of your debts. Make sure you keep up your repayments and your credit rating will, in time, improve. You can compare companies that offer free access to your credit report in our comparison centre.
If you're in serious trouble, seek free, independent help from a debt charity. You can find out more about these in Where to get free debt advice.
Low-rate alternatives
If you don't think you can keep up on moving your debt around then a lifetime low-rate balance transfer credit card might suit you better.
Instead of remaining interest free for a certain amount of time, these credit cards have a low APR applied to the balance from the start of the transfer that lasts as long as you take to pay it off. Some of the best cards in this category don’t charge a transfer fee and those that do keep it very low.
Compare low-rate 0% balance transfer credit cards
This article is updated as products change
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The best 0% balance transfer credit cards
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