14 very long interest-free credit cards

Want to take advantage of a fantastic 0% balance transfer deal? Find all the best ones here.

Gone are the days when Virgin dominated market and always offered the very best 0% balance transfer card. Don't get me wrong, Virgin's current 14 month deal is still reasonably competitive, but there are now five other cards which have stormed ahead.

So, given that the balance transfer market is very much alive and kicking, and the 0% deals are better than ever before, which offer the most generous interest-free periods now?

In this article, I’ll first look at a selection of cards which are available to everyone and offer 0% deals which last longer than 13 months. The second selection will cover cards which are exclusively available to existing customers or new customers only.

7 top 0% balance transfer cards - available to everyone

Right at the top of the table are the brand new interest-free balance transfer deals from Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank which last a whopping 16 months. This is the longest ever balance transfer deal! If you move your old credit card balance onto one of these cards today, you’d have until September 2011 to pay it all off. This should give you plenty of breathing space while chip away at your debts.

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Of course, transfer fees still come into play when you transfer to most cards. This usually costs around 3% of the amount you move across, which on a balance of say, £3,000 would set you back £90.

The next three best 0% cards – from NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander - all offer a fantastic 15 months interest-free credit with similar transfer fees. It’s good news that the NatWest Platinum Credit Card and the Royal Bank of Scotland Platinum Credit Card are now available to everyone, as previous highly competitive deals were only available to existing current accounts customers. (See the following table for details of NatWest and RBS’s existing customer only credit cards.)

Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank are the clear winners here in terms of the length of the 0% period. That said, if you won’t need 16 months to clear your balance, it may be slightly more cost effective to pick one of the cards with a 2.9% fee, rather than 3%. It’s true this will only save you £1 in fees for every £1,000 transferred, but still every penny counts!

Avoid the APR

You’ll have noticed I’ve included a ‘Typical APR’ column. This shows the rate you’ll revert to once the interest-free period has expired. Remember, the APR at 16% to 17% will always be vastly higher than the introductory rate, and should be avoided at all costs. If you don’t manage to clear your debt completely before the 0% rate disappears, get ready to transfer your balance again in good time.

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But bear in mind you can’t usually transfer from one card to another if both are issued by the same banking group. For example, if you applied for a Virgin Money Credit Card in the days when it was still the market-leader, you won’t now be able to move your balance to an MBNA card because both are issued by MBNA Europe Bank Ltd.

Likewise, NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland are both members of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and therefore balances can’t be transferred between the two.

Next up, it’s the selection of top 0% balance transfer cards which are available either to new customers or existing customers only:

7 top 0% balance transfer cards - available exclusively

You’ll see these deals are very similar to the previous selection. There are now five deals which offer a fantastic 0% rate for 15 months with a 2.9% fee. But all of them operate with exclusions which could bar the majority of prospective cardholders. The First Direct Gold Card and Egg Visa are only available to new applicants, while the other cards are open to existing current account or mortgage customers.

All these exclusive deals are highly competitive, but none are capable of beating the 16 month deal on offer at Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank.

That said, one card which is of particular interest is the last in the table - the Santander Zero Credit Card. This card is the only one of the 14 which doesn't charge a transfer fee. If you reckon you’ve got a good chance of clearing your balance within a year, then this rare fee-free card could be a better choice than any of the others. This would save you around £30 per £1,000 transferred compared to a card with a standard transfer fee.

But, of course, it’s only on offer to Santander’s current account or mortgage customers. Shame!

Compare balance transfer credit cards at lovemoney.com

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