There is a longer 0% period on offer from Barclaycard but should you get a card?
Barclaycard has added an extra month onto its 26-month Platinum Card to make the 0% balance transfer period 26 months.
With a fee of 2.47%, thanks to a 15% discount throughout June, it would cost £49.40 to move over a debt of £2,000.
But in a highly competitive balance transfer market how does the new offer from Barclaycard stack up?
Platinum 26-month card
The 26-month card comes with an initial six-month 0% period on purchases and an average interest rate of 18.9% when the balance transfer period ends.
It provides one of the longest balance transfer periods on the market and is only beaten by the 27-month card with a 2.98% fee from the same provider.
The one downside with the card is that your credit score will have to be pretty good to be accepted and you also can’t move over an existing Barclaycard balance.
If you currently have a debt on a Barclaycard, there are other options such as the 26-month cards from NatWest, RBS and Virgin, although the fees on these are higher.
Our comparison tables give the full picture but here I’ve listed the top five with the longest balance transfer periods:
|
Card |
0% period |
Balance transfer fee |
Fee paid on £2,000 transfer |
Representative APR after 0% period ends |
|
27 months |
2.98% (for June) |
£59.60 |
18.9% |
|
|
26 months |
2.47 (for June) |
£49.40 |
18.9% |
|
|
26 months |
2.65% |
£53 |
18.9% |
|
|
26 months |
2.65% |
£53 |
18.9% |
|
|
26 months |
2.99% |
£59.80 |
17.9% |
Choosing the right card
Although the offer from Barclaycard is attractive, there are cheaper deals around. Tesco has recently bought out a market-leading no-fee balance transfer card which breaks the mould in this area. It’s free to take out the card and you’ll get a 12-month 0% interest and purchase period.
If you've got a big debt to transfer, you could save a lot of money because you won't have to pay a transfer fee. On the other hand, you only have 12 months to pay off the debt - unless you plan to transfer your debt to another card in a year's time.
For more options take a look at our piece -The best low-fee balance transfer credit cards.
Balance transfer cards
These cards work well for people struggling to pay off high interest payments. They offer a break from the payments leaving the borrower to focus on clearing the debt.
But they’ll only work if you do actually work on paying off the credit card debt and make sure payments are made on time.
If you break these rules you could end up with hefty interest payments to pay which would negate any savings made in the 0% period.