Credit card debt is never fun, and developing a plan to get yourself out of the debt can be exhausting. Credit cards commonly charge interest rates of 20% or more, and if you miss a few payments the default rate can be even worse. Fortunately, if your credit is still decent, there is a way to make payments on your credit card with paying low interest or without any interest. That’s through one or more of the best balance transfer credit cards available today.
Low and zero percent APR balance transfer offers are commonly provided by credit card issuers to attract new customers. Credit card issuers rightfully assume that if they can attract you to their product by offering to house your debt for no interest, you’re likely to generate new debt after you’ve paid off the old debt. The trick in taking advantage of a balance transfer offer is to pay off the entire debt during the 0% introductory offer, then pledging never again to get deep into credit card debt. It’s easier said than done for many.
Many top credit cards offers now have balance transfer fees, but even with a fee, you could save thousands of dollars of interest charges by taking advantage of low or zero percent APR balance transfer offers. Below you will find excellent choices for credit cards available for balance transfers. If you have a favorite balance transfer offer not included on this list, let me know and I’ll add it.
List of Balance Transfer Offers
Discover it®- 18 Month Balance Transfer Offer
The Discover it®- 18 Month Balance Transfer Offer as the name suggests offers an intro 0% APR that lasts for 18 months. With no annual fee, no foreign transaction fee, no over limit fee and no APR hike for paying late, it would be hard to find a card that offers more consumer-friendly terms. Signing up for this card can nab you a 0 percent introductory APR on balance transfers for 18 months with a 3 percent balance transfer fee for each balance transferred. After the introductory period, the variable purchase APR applies.
This rewards program offers cardholders a straight 1 percent cash back on purchases, with the opportunity to earn 5 percent cash back on purchases in rotating categories subject to quarterly enrollment and spending caps. Plus, free FICO® Credit Score on your monthly statements, online and in the mobile app.
Learn how to apply here.
Wells Fargo Platinum Visa® Credit Card
The Wells Fargo Platinum Visa® credit card offers a 0% balance transfer for 15 months. The card also offers 0% on purchases for 15 months. There is no annual fee. One interesting feature of this card is that you can get up to $600 protection on your cell phone (subject to $25 deductible) against covered damage or theft when you pay your monthly cellular telephone bill with your Wells Fargo Platinum Visa® Credit Card.
Learn how to apply here.
The Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card from American Express
American Express is not best known for 0% offers. They tend to focus on excellent rewards. With some cards, however, they combine a 0% offer with rewards. The Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card from American Express is one such card. This card does offer a 0% balance transfer for 12 months.
On top of the 0% intro APR, the card offers these rewards:
- Earn 15,000 Membership Reward® points when you make $1,000 in purchases in the first 3 months.
- Use your Card 30 or more times on purchases in a billing period and you’ll earn 50% more points on those purchases.
- 3x points at US supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1x); 2x points at US gas stations; 1x points on other purchases.
Learn how to apply here.
Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa® Credit Card
The Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa® Credit Card combines a 0% balance transfer with excellent cash back rewards. The card offers 0% on balance transfers for 12 months. While that’s not the longest balance transfer offer on our list, the card also combines excellent cash back rewards:
- Earn a $150 cash bonus after spending $1,000 in net purchases in the first 3 months
- Earn 1.5% cash rewards on everyday net purchases
- Enjoy 1.8% cash rewards on Android Pay™ or Apple Pay™ mobile wallet net purchases during the first 12 months from account opening
Learn how to apply here.
Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card
The Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card offers the shortest 0% balance transfer on our list at 9 months. We’ve included it however, because of the excellent cash back rewards–1.5% on every purchase + a $150 cash bonus when you spend $500 in purchases in the first 3 months. There is no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees.
Learn how to apply here.
If you still haven’t found what you are looking for, check out this list of balance transfer cards.
For diligent credit card users, balance transfer cards can be efficient tools for keeping your bank account balance intact, making better use of your cash than spending your own money for a large purchase. In great economic environments, you could earn interest on your money while paying off your expenses with a low or zero percent interest rate. The proliferation of balance transfer fees makes this type of arbitrage more difficult, but with a few fee-free offers being available today, you might be able to earn interest on your card issuer’s money if you don’t fall into any traps.
Important Note! The information in this article is believed to be accurate as of the date it was written. Please keep in mind that credit card offers change frequently. Therefore, we can not guarantee the accuracy of the information in this article. Please verify all terms and conditions of any credit or charge card prior to applying.
Updated July 23, 2017 and originally published March 15, 2012.
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BANK OF CHINA CC SCAM
Just returned from a trip from Hong Kong and China
In HK, all the charges are in HK $, thus avoiding the 3% Dynamic exchange fee. The only one that charge Dynamic exchange fee is Bank of China subsidiary that process Visa CC transactions.
In China, things gets really bad. Each time I ask to be charged in RMB, it came out to be in US$. After protest, it still come up with a statement saying that I was offer to reject the US$ option (which I did not). The bank say all I have to do is to cross out the option line and write RMB on the charge line, I will be fine. When I came home and check my statements, it all had the 3% Dynamic Exchange rated added onto my Schwab Credit card.
It is a big scam by Bank of China.. Be careful when you use credit card in China
“…then pledging never again to get deep into credit card debt. It’s easier said than done for many.” – hehehehe
I have a Citi Dividend MasterCard. I took out a 2500 balance transfer with 0 interest until October of next year. What Citi (and this website) DOESN’T tell you, is that if you use your credit card for purchases, even if you pay off the amount of the purchases on the card (ie if you spend 500, bringing your total balance to 3000, and pay 500 at the end of the month, leaving you with 2500 again)… You pay interest on your 2500 balance.
So I’ll be paying at least 13 bucks a month in interest until I’ve paid off the 2500 balance transfer, which I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to worry about until summer of next year, because money is very tight.
I spoke at great length with some supervisor gentleman who told me about the 0% APR balance transfer, and at NO time did he tell me I’d be unable to use my card. I feel so lied to.
I have a Citi platinum mastercard and recently completed a 0 APR balance transfer with a 6 month term. I never pay interest on credit card but was faced with an unusual home repair so it seemed a prudent way to manage the expense. Also, i already had the card and simply had to select the option. The 3 percent fee was fine as I pretty much washed it out by receiving a 2 percent cash back reward from the HSBC card i used for the purchase. So far so good, right? Nooooo! I then used the Citicard for some regular (standard) purchases figuring I pay those off in full plus the minimum amount due. To my surprise, the new standard purchases started accruing interest from the date of purchase! I called Citibank and they agreed to reimburse the interest charge. Now, I no longer use the Citibank card and continue to pay the minimum each month and avoid any interest. It seems they shoot themselves in the foot as not using the card at all deprives them of any additional revenue. Word of caution, ask questions before signing up, these can work for you as long as you understand their terms and can adjust accordingly.
That is terrible. Even though things are supposed to be becoming more transparent, things don’t seem to change. Citi really needs to focus on their customer service and not playing games.