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Compare no fee balance transfer credit cards
No fee balance transfer cards
What are 0% fee balance transfer cards?
These are cards that allow you to transfer an existing credit card debt to a new card, without being charged the usual upfront transfer fees.
Typically, balance transfer fees are about 1%-4%.
If you move to a card charging 0% interest or low interest on balance transfers, this could save you a lot of money.
No-fee balance transfer cards typically have shorter 0% interest periods than ones that do charge.
To get the best deals you will need to have a good credit score.
No-fee balance transfer cards are perfect for people with smaller debts looking to save on interest."
How do no-fee balance transfer cards work?
Balance transfer credit cards with zero fees work just the same as any other balance transfer credit card, just they don’t charge an upfront fee to transfer your balance.
A balance transfer card allows you transfer existing credit card debts to it.
Many typically offer a 0% interest period so you can avoid paying interest on your card debts for a set period of time which can be 12 months or more.
Watch: What will a credit card cost me?
Advantages and disadvantages of no-fee balance transfer credit cards
Advantages
Disadvantages
Source: Defaqto and Uswitch data, correct as of December 19, 2022
How to find a no-fee balance transfer credit card
You can see some of our best no-fee balance transfer cards in the table at the top of this page.
Filter the tables by ‘transfer fee’ to find the balance transfer cards that charge zero for upfront transfer fees. If you go through our card-finder tool there might also be more results available, depending on your credit score.
Also, it is worth understanding the difference between initial and effective fees.
Many cards charge an initial upfront fee that is refunded once you make your first repayment, the fee after the refund is the effective fee.
Some cards may have an effective fee of 0% but will charge an initial fee, so it’s worth checking out the small print and comparing carefully.
Try to calculate what the overall cost might be to pay off the balance you are transferring, to find the best deal."
Compare no-fee balance transfer cards
No balance transfer fee credit card FAQs
Do balance transfers hurt your credit score?
No. The act of transferring a balance to a new credit card doesn’t damage your credit score.
However, there are two things that might negatively affect your credit worthiness if you're not careful.
Firstly, applying for a new credit card is always recorded on your credit history. This means that if you have an application rejected, or there are multiple applications over a short period of time, other lenders might be nervous.
However, card finder and eligibility checker tools don’t show up on your credit score, so it makes sense to use one to ensure you only apply for cards you’ll qualify for.
Secondly, lenders look at something called your "total available credit" before making a decision. This is worked out by adding up all your credit card and overdraft limits.
A new card adds to this total, but unless you've already got a large number of cards with high credit limits - for example equal to your annual salary – it’s unlikely to be a problem.
Is interest free credit really interest free?
Yes, but that doesn't mean you'll pay nothing to borrow.
First, there may well be a fee attached to a credit card balance transfer or money transfer.
Secondly, if you don't clear your debt withing the 0% period you'll be charged interest on any money remaining on the account at the end of it.
Can I get a balance transfer credit card with bad credit?
Your options for balance transfer credit cards will be limited if you have bad credit. Most credit cards transfer deals will only accept people with a good or excellent credit rating.
You might have a higher chance of being approved for a credit card for bad credit.
How Uswitch compares credit cards
What does ‘most popular’ and ‘popularity’ mean?
When we use the term ‘most popular or ‘popularity’ on Uswitch in reference to credit cards, these cards are ranked by the number of clicks they have received on the site in the past 30 days.
The most clicked on cards are at the top, with the least at the bottom. This reflects how popular they are with visitors to Uswitch.com. Consequently, this is a good table to look at if you’re interested in seeing which cards most people think are worth getting.
Does Uswitch compare all the credit cards on the market?
We compare over 100 credit cards from all of the major banks and credit card providers.
However, we do not compare all the credit cards that are available in the UK.
This is because some credit card providers have offers that are only available exclusively through their own website or branch, or through other comparison websites - in the same way some credit cards are exclusively available through Uswitch.
There are also many credit cards that are only available to people in member organisations and clubs.
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