Balance Transfers

It is estimated that one third of credit card holders fail to pay off their balances in full each month. These people could save themselves a small fortune by regularly switching to a 0% deal, especially as there are now a number of 0% balance transfer credit card deals on offer. We provide a summary of some of the leading balance transfer rates on offer below.  You can see at a glance who offers the longest 0% intro period for transferring a card balance. It is estimated that if everyone switched their credit cards to another provider, more than £2 billion a year could be saved in all.

If you're intending to shift your debt, do your sums carefully as you may not save as much as you'd hoped. Card companies have recently introduced balance transfer fees, so you might  find that a credit card with a life of balance rate would save you more.

Below is a summary of the best balance deals currently available in the UK.

Click on the card for full details / apply online.

Credit Card Click card for more details or to apply		Promotional Rate for Balance Transfers (Balance transfer fee rates in brackets)	Promotional Rate for Purchases	Cashback	Typical APR (variable)
	HSBC Bank	2.9% for 24 months (2.5% - min £5)	0% for 12 months	-	15.9%
	Virgin	0% for 15 months (2.98%)	0% for 3 months	Virgin cardholders can take advantage of exclusive instant discounts with money off holidays, wine, music, gym membership, DVDs and insurance	15.9%
	Egg	0% for up to 15 months (3%)	0% for 3 months	Cash back at selected online retailers	16.9%
	Barclaycard Platinum	0% for 14 months (2.9%)	0% for 3 months	-	14.9%
	Royal Bank of Scotland	0% for 13 months (2.9% - min £5)	0% for 6 months	-	13.9%
	NatWest	0% for 13 months (2.9% - min £5)	0% for 6 months	-	13.9%
	MBNA Platinum Plus	0% until June 2009 (2.9%)	0% until August 2008	-	15.9%
	Barclaycard Platinum with cashback	0% for 12 months (2.5%)	14.9%	1% cashback on supermarket and petrol spend and 0.5% cashback on all other spending (up to £15 each a month)	14.9%
	WWF Charity	0% for 12 months (3%)	0% for 3 months	-	15.9%
	MBNA Premiership Football	0% for 12 months (3%)	0% for 3 months	-	15.9%
	Sony Card	0% for 12 months (3%)	0% for 3 months	Collect SonyCard Pulsebeats towards Sony products	15.9%
	National Trust Charity	0% for 12 months (3%)	0% for 3 months	-	15.9%
	MBNA Football Association	0% for 12 months (3%)	0% for 3 months	-	15.9%
	Sainsbury's Bank Standard	0% for 12 months (3%)	0% for 3 months	Collect up to 4 Nectar points per £1 spent	15.9%
	Breakthrough Breast Cancer Charity	0% for 12 months (3%)	0% for 3 months	-	15.9%
	Capital One Platinum	0% until March 2009 (3%)	0% until March 2009	-	9.9%
	Post Office 2 in 1	0% for 10 months (2.75%)	0% for 3 months	-	15.9%
	Amazon	0% for 9 months (3% - min £3)	0% for 6 months	Earn loyalty points redeemable against Amazon gift certificates	15.9%
	Co-operative Bank Think	7% for 6 months (no fee)	12.9%	-	12.9%
	GM Card	0% for 5 months (2% - min £5)	0% for 5 months	Collect Rebate Points and save up to £2,000 off a new Vauxhall car or up to £2,500 off a new Saab car	14.9%
	Barclaycard OnePulse	14.9% (2.5%)	0% for 6 months	-	14.9%
	American Express Platinum MoneyBack	-	18.9%	Up to 5% cashback on purchases	18.9%
	American Express Nectar	-	15.9%	Earn up to 4 Nectar points for every £1 spent, 5,000 bonus points when you first spend £200 and double points for the first 3 months	15.9%
	Aqua	-	35.9%	-	35.9%
	Vanquis Visa	-	39.9%	-	39.9%

Transferring a credit card balance sounds complicated, but is actually very simple. To transfer a balance from one card to another you simply inform your new card provider where to transfer the balance from and they will then pay off your debt.  You then owe the new card the money instead. The main reason for transferring a balance is to benefit from better rates of interest.

0% intro rates for new customers
It’s not just about what the rates of interest are but for how long the rates last that counts. Many cards now offer interest free debt to new customers for an introductory period usually lasting around 6 months.  Anyone who has debts on a credit card, and a reasonable credit history, should be able to obtain 0% for balance transfers.  However is is important to note that 0% interest does not mean there is nothing to repay it just means all you have to do is meet the credit card minimum payments each month and pay nothing in interest on what is left over. 

If you still have a debt when the 0% period come to and end there is nothing preventing you from shifting the balance again to another card. The time to switch the money is the month before the deal ends – which usually means applying for a new card about 6 weeks before the deadline date. 

Life of Balance Deals

If you anticipate carrying over a balance for longer than the intro periods available and don’t want to repeatedly switch should use ‘life of balance’ transfers where the special rate lasts until the entire balance transferred is paid off. Examples of these are Morgan Stanley Platinum.