Just Eight Balance Transfer Cards Left
As far as rate tarts are concerned, there are just eight choices left when getting a 0% deal.
About this time last year there were around 200 credit cards offering 0% balance-transfer deals. Now there are just 100. Of those, I would call just 24 of them 'genuine' balance-transfer credit cards.
My definition of 'genuine' is a credit card with a deal lasting at least 10 months if the card charges you a transfer fee. If you're not charged a fee (i.e. the balance transfer is totally free), the deal has to last at least 4 months to get into my club.
Here is a tally of these 'BT' credit cards, and what their deals offer:
Number of BT cards by deal length and size of fee
No. of months
3%
2.75%
2.5%
2%
No fee
15
1
14
1
1
13
3
12
11
2
1
10
1
1
1
6
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
1
However, veteran card tarts will be aware that many card providers are connected; for example, in the above tally I included a card from Citi and another from bmibaby, but Citifinancial Europe issues both credit cards.
The bad news is that a credit-card issuer won't let you get another card under its umbrella to transfer existing debts, so you won't be able to transfer your debt directly from an Alliance & Leicester card to a Virgin Money card, for example, because MBNA issues both cards.
As far as rate tarts are concerned then, they don't have 24 choices but eight. As there are so few, I shall give you all the details in another table:
The eight remaining choices for rate tarts
Months
Fee
Card issuer
Providers
15
3%
MBNA
Virgin
14
2.5%
Barclaycard
Barclaycard
14
3%
Egg
Egg
13
2.5%
Royal Bank of Scotland
NatWest/RBS
12
3%
HBOS
Halifax/BOS
12
3%
Citi
Citi/bmibaby
10
2.5%
Nationwide
Nationwide
10
2.75%
Bank of Ireland
Post Office
I used data from Moneyfacts, and from providers' own websites. If you think I've missed one, let other Fools know by posting a message on Credit Cards & Loans. (Note: I don't count Lloyds' 12-month card as a genuine BT credit card, because it has an additional dodgy term in the contract that makes it cost more.)
The balance transfer game is mostly suitable for those of you who are organised with your money, and who have the discipline to keep reducing your debts. If you don't think you fit the bill (be honest!), take a look at our Get Out Of Debt centre for more ideas on how to tackle your debts.
> Find out who your card issuer is by reading When Balance Transfers Go Bad!
> Compare credit cards: 0% balance transfers, 0% on purchases, cashback and lifetime balance transfers.