If you have credit card debt and are actively seeking to eliminate it, a balance transfer credit card is one of the best ways to pay your way out of debt quickly. You can compare the latest balance transfer credit card offers below to see which one fits your situation. Typically the best credit card offers have the longest term of debt repayment at zero percent interest and the lowest balance transfer fee.
Balance transfer offers - it's all in the details
Credit card companies make balance transfer offers to attract new business, so be aware of the fine print when you compare balance transfer credit card deals. Your first step is to estimate how much credit card debt you want to pay off and then use a calculator to determine how much you can afford to pay each month.
For example, if you owe $2,400 and want to pay this off in one year, you'll need to pay $200 per month. In this case, you may want to look for a balance transfer offer of 12 months or longer to make sure you can pay the entire balance before accruing interest. If you can't pay $200 per month on that balance, try to find a balance transfer offer with a longer stretch of zero percent interest or at least one with a low interest rate after the introductory period ends.
Balance transfer fees
In addition to checking on the interest rate during and after the introductory period, you should compare balance transfer fees. Occasionally you may find an offer that waives all fees for transferring a balance, but more often the fee will range from three to five percent of the balance. Be sure to calculate the fee and add that to your balance when you are estimating how long it will take you to eliminate your credit card debt.
While the option of not paying any fee may seem at first like your best choice, the lack of a fee often goes hand-in-hand with a shorter zero percent balance transfer period on new purchases, transferred balances or both. A quick calculation can help you decide whether avoiding the fee is in your best interest.
Balance transfer details
When you compare credit cards with balance transfer promotions, it's important to check not only the interest rate on the credit card after the introductory period, but also whether the interest you are charged will accumulate on the entire balance or just on the balance that remains after you have finished the introductory period. If you are accumulating interest on the entire balance and simply deferring interest payments, you could end up paying a lot more in interest than you think.
Debt reduction and balance transfers
A zero interest balance transfer can be a valuable part of your debt reduction plan as long as you use it the right way. The worst way to use it would be to pay off one credit card with a balance transfer and then immediately begin making purchases with your newly available credit. Instead, commit yourself to either a debt snowball approach, paying off each credit card debt from smallest to largest and adding the payment from one to the next to accelerate the plan or pay off the credit card debt with the highest interest rate while switching to a zero percent interest credit card.
So if you have decided that you are ready to reduce your credit card debt and stop giving credit card companies so much of your hard-earned money, compare the zero percent APR credit cards on this page to see which one is the best choice for you.
