Barclaycard 22-month Platinum Visa: why the best balance transfer card just got better
Barclaycard has cut the transfer fee you'll have to pay on its 22-Month Platinum Visa balance transfer credit card.
If you have a stack of debt already on your credit card, there are two things to consider:
1) how long you need to pay off that debt; and
2) how much it will cost to transfer that debt onto a decent balance transfer card.
After all, the cards that offer the longest 0% periods on balance transfers tend to charge the highest transfer fees, of 3% or even more.
However, the good news is that the card offering one of the longest 0% periods has also drastically cut the transfer fee you’ll need to pay.
It doesn’t sound a lot…
Barclaycard already boasts one of the leading balance transfer cards, offering a whopping 22 months free of interest on any balance you move onto its 22-month Platinum Visa. And the transfer fee is pretty competitive at 2.9%.
However, for new customers in May, the firm is offering a £30 discount on transfer fees. That may not sound a lot, but in practice it’s a pretty dramatic change.
Let’s take an example. Say you're moving £2,500 onto the card. Previously, you would have paid a fee of 2.9% for the privilege, totalling £62.50.
However, thanks to the discount, you’ll only be paying £32.50. That’s the equivalent of a transfer fee of just 1.3%!
That makes this credit card even more compelling in my book.
How it compares
Let’s take the ten credit cards offering the longest interest-free periods on balance transfers and see how the Barclaycard 22-month Platinum compares. I’m sticking with my example of a £2,500 balance transferred.
|
Card |
0% period |
Transfer fee |
Transfer fee paid in this example |
|
HSBC Visa* |
23 months |
3.3% |
£82.50 |
|
22 months |
2.9% (plus £30 discount) |
£32.50 |
|
|
22 months |
3.5% |
£87.50 |
|
|
21 months |
2.6% |
£65 |
|
|
20 months |
2.99% |
£74.75 |
|
|
20 months |
2.9% |
£72.50 |
|
|
20 months |
2.9% |
£72.50 |
|
|
20 months |
2.99% |
£74.75 |
|
|
20 months |
2.9% |
£72.50 |
|
|
20 months |
3.2% |
£80 |
*Only available to current account holders
As you can see, the transfer fee charged by the Barclaycard 22-Month Platinum is significantly smaller than any of the fees charged by any of the other leading cards in our example.
What’s more, the only card to offer a longer 0% period – the HSBC Visa – requires you to have an HSBC current account too. Barclaycard's lower fee will make it easier for you to pay off your debt within 22 months, so it's definitely the card to go for.
More on borrowing:
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