Longest 0% deal about to get more expensive.
If you want to transfer existing credit card debt onto a card offering 0% interest on balance transfers, two of the best deals around come from Barclaycard. But be warned, the transfer fees are about to change on the Platinum 35-Month and Platinum 34-Month credit cards.
At the moment, both cards charge a 3.5% transfer fee, which is then partially refunded so that in reality you only pay a fee of 2.49% for the 35-month card and 2.39% for the 34-month card. Barclaycard says that these offers will be ending on 13th February. It won't say exactly what the new fees will be, but you can be pretty confident they will be higher, so if you want to take advantage of either card now is definitely the time to do it.
How the cards compare
The longer cards are ideal if you have quite a bit of debt to pay off. As you can see, the two Barclaycard credit cards offer both the longest 0% periods and the smallest transfer fees, for now at least.
|
Credit card |
0% period on balance transfers |
Balance transfer fee |
Cost of transferring £2,000 balance |
Representative APR |
|
35 months |
2.49% |
£49.80 |
18.9% |
|
|
34 months |
2.39% |
£47.80 |
18.9% |
|
|
34 months |
2.8% |
£56 |
18.9% |
|
|
34 months |
2.9% |
£58 |
18.9% |
|
|
Bank of Scotland Platinum 34 Month Balance Transfer Credit Card |
34 months |
3% |
£60 |
18.9% |
|
34 months |
3% |
£60 |
18.9% |
If you think you can clear your debt in a shorter timeframe, then you can also enjoy a much smaller balance transfer fee. In fact some cards don’t charge a transfer fee at all.
Here’s a round-up of top cards that charge a transfer fee of less than 1% of the balance you're moving over.
|
Credit card |
0% period on balance transfers |
Balance transfer fee |
Fee paid on £2,000 transfer |
Representative APR after 0% period ends |
|
23 months |
None |
£0 |
16.5% |
|
|
15 months |
None |
£0 |
18.9% |
|
|
13 months |
None |
£0 |
18.9% |
|
|
12 months |
None |
£0 |
18.9% |
|
|
15 months |
0.25% |
£5 |
15.9% |
|
|
15 months |
0.35% |
£7 |
17.9% |
|
|
18 months |
0.79% |
£15.80 |
17.8% |
*Annual fee of £24
[SPOTLIGHT]Compare more credit cards with lovemoney.com
Will I get these cards?
Remember, the best 0% offers are reserved for borrowers with good credit ratings. If your score isn't so good, you may be out of luck. To find out where you can check your credit record for free, head to our credit report centre.
More on banking and borrowing:
Ways to get an interest-free loan
The best low-fee balance transfer credit cards
The cheapest ways to borrow £1,000