Barclaycard has halved the transfer fees it charges on its balance transfer credit cards, but time is running out to take advantange.
The clock is ticking if you want to make the most of Barclaycard's half price balance transfer fee offer.
Back in July Barclaycard announced it was halving the transfer fees charged on its balance transfer credit cards. But that deal finishes on the 9th August, so time is running out. If you have debt racking up interest, you need to act fast to take advantage.
What is a balance transfer credit card?
If you have existing credit card debt and you are struggling to pay it off quickly then a balance transfer credit card could help you regain control of your finances.
With a balance transfer credit card you can take an outstanding balance from another credit card and give it a fresh start on a new card charging 0% interest. As a result, your repayments go directly towards paying off your debt rather than on interest. So you pay that debt off quicker and it costs you less to do so!
Two important points
When choosing a balance transfer credit card you need to look out for the length of interest-free period and the cost of transferring the balance.
The trick is to find a cheap balance transfer card with a sufficient interest-free period that gives you enough time to clear the debt before interest starts racking up again. After all, there is no point getting a bargain transfer rate but only having a couple of months to get your finances in order before interest is charged again. Likewise you don't want to spend a fortune transferring the debt even if there is a long time in which to pay it off.
The longest 0% interest-free period
There are a number of credit cards that are offering plenty of time to clear balance transfers. Take a look at the quick round up in the table below.
|
Credit card |
Length of 0% period on balance transfers |
|
23 months |
|
|
22 months |
|
| NatWest Platinum | 22 months |
| RBS Platinum | 22 months |
|
22 months |
|
|
21 months |
|
|
20 months |
|
|
20 months |
|
|
18 months |
|
|
18 months |
|
|
17 months |
|
|
15 months |
*Only available to existing current account holders
The longer you have the more manageable chunks your debt can be broken into. For example, if you had £5,000 to pay off then you could split the payments over 23 months with a HSBC Visa credit card, which would cost around £217 a month before interest is charged. But if you had a shorter period of fifteen months with a Fluid Card this would require a heftier £333.00 a month to clear the same amount.
The cheapest balance transfer fee
As well as the interest-free period, you need to factor in the cost of transferring the balance, as this is going to add to the total amount you have to repay.
To illustrate how a balance transfer fee can make a difference especially if you want to minimise incurring any further debt, take a look at the table below. It shows the cost of a balance transfer across a range of lump sums on credit cards that offer a reasonable 22-month interest-free period .
|
Debt transferred |
Barclaycard 22-Month Platinum (1.45% fee) |
NatWest Platinum (3.2% fee) |
RBS Platinum (3.2% fee) |
Halifax MasterCard (3.5% fee) |
|
£1,000 |
£14.50 |
£32.00 |
£32.00 |
£35.00 |
|
£2,500 |
£36.25 |
£80.00 |
£80.00 |
£87.50 |
|
£5,000 |
£72.50 |
£160.00 |
£160.00 |
£175.00 |
|
£7,500 |
£108.75 |
£240.00 |
£240.00 |
£262.50 |
|
£10,000 |
£145.00 |
£320.00 |
£320.00 |
£350.00 |
As you can see the amount you will have to pay to start taking control of your debt is vastly cheaper with Barclaycard.
For a £5,000 balance you would have to pay £175 to transfer it to the Halifax MasterCard but you could save £102.50 using a Barclaycard 22-Month Platinum Visa with the exact same interest-free period. It seems like a no-brainer to me.
The best of both
Normally it is hard to strike a balance between the cheap balance transfer and length of interest-free period. Luckily the Barclaycard range has the cheapest set of handling fees on the market and a wide variety of interest-free periods to choose from. Take a look at the table below to see what’s still on offer.
|
Credit card |
Interest free period |
Balance transfer fee |
|
22 months |
1.45% |
|
|
21 months |
1.3% |
|
|
14 months |
1.45% |
|
|
Nine months |
1.25% |
However, after August 9th the fees will double meaning that although the cards will still be competitive you will have to pay more to transfer your balances.
If you miss out or if you are unable to take advantage of this offer because you have an existing Barclaycard debt you should take a look at the best alternatives to Barclaycard's balance transfer credit card to see the other cards that can help.
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