Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards

Finance
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By using a credit card with 0% interest balance transfers you can:

  • Convert high-interest credit card debt into zero-interest (to help you pay down debt faster)
  • Free up capital for investment elsewhere
  • And 100 other things

NerdWallet has a link to some of the best.

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I used the Chase Slate card back in 2014 with great success. Was making a big purchase and this is what I did:

  1. Buy big purchase on 5% everywhere card (ahhh, the good ole days).
  2. Applied for Chase Slate and balance transferred from 5% card to Chase Slate.
  3. Slowly paid off the purchase at 0$ interest over the next 18 months.

End result, I got 5% cashback on a $10,000+ purchase and paid no interest.

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Yes, the good ole days. Do any balance transfer offers even exist that have a 0% fee? Most offers sit around 3%.

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Barclays does 1% on many of their cards.

I have heard that NFCU does 0% transfers.

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USAA and NFCU do with no fees on a regular basis. I just got one for a USAA card a month ago and got one from NFCU two weeks ago.

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I recently got my wife a Platinum VISA at NFCU that had a 0% for 12 months offer (new accounts only). Stuck that in a 2% CD and will just pay it all back once the 0% is up in a year.

Also, PSECU offers a perpetual $0/2.9% BT on their VISA. I’ve used it many times as a bridge loan, of sorts. That’s how I just did the NFCU CD/BT deal. I “BTed” $20k from PSECU to my NFCU checking account (which has a LOC tied to it with the same account number, in case PSECU starts asking), then I BTed from the new NFCU Platinum to my PSECU account. I think I paid something like $10 in interest for the interim few days that the NFCU money was moving.

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I just got a Discover IT card with a 15 month 0% and $0 balance transfer deal. Just in time to rotate a previous $0 balance from an Alliant card.

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New card, or was it an offer on your account? I get offers all the time for mine, but they always have a 2-3% fee.

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New card, received the offer in the mail (along with an offer code). $0 transfer shows up as an option in the balance transfer section of the Discover website after activating the card (see screenshot).

Screenshot_20171005-131723.png1080Ă—1920 123 KB

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Does anyone knows what happens when the BT term expire and you still have balance on the card for few more days.
Originally, I did a BT on Alliant card which expires in 3 days. I already requested BT to Barclaycard Ring few days ago but it is still processing. Should I be worried if BT does not go through in next day or two?
Thanks.

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you’ll probably get interest charged, if you call them sometimes they’ll let it go ymmv

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Depends. The issuers like Synchrony typically accrue the interest and if the balance isn’t paid by the end date of the promotion, all of that accrued interest posts to the account. But it seems most credit unions just start charging on the remaining balance.

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My 0% BofA offers have an end date explicitly on the statement, and presumably they switch to my regular rate on a daily basis after that. You would have to be more careful if it was one of those that somehow charges interest retractively back to the start if you don’t pay it off when the promo period ends.

Also, BTs can take longer than you expect, so be cautious planning anything with them on a tight schedule. Give yourself two weeks to be safe I think.

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I put the expiration dates on my gmail calendar with a reminder 3-4 weeks ahead. This allows me to flip them over and over again as needed / desired.

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Thanks Guys.
I spoke to Alliant CSR and was told that there will be no retrospective interest charges.
Also, they charge interest on a monthly basis and as long as there is no balance when the next statement cuts I will not be paying any interest.

First part is also confirmed by MagnifyMoney:

What happens if I don’t pay off the balance transfer at the end of the promo period?
Once the introductory period is over, interest will start to accrue at the standard purchase interest rate on a go-forward basis. Interest during the introductory period is waived — so you do not need to worry about a retroactive interest charge.

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Not always the case though. Check this out (granted, it was a purchase not a BT, but I’ve had Citi BTs with this kind of language):

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30% … gangsta!

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Synchrony hates everyone.

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Agree but if you read my entire post I was specifically talking about Alliant and that quote from MagnifyMoney was also about Alliant BT offer terms.

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Ah, that wasn’t clear to me. Sorry, I thought that was intended to be generic. I knew your case was Alliant, but unsure what the MagnifyMoney thing was about.

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