Credit card switch could save you thousands of pounds in interest - how to apply

Credit card debt can be expensive to pay off

If you’ve got credit card debt, you can dramatically cut your borrowing costs by switching to a 0% interest balance transfer card.

The average credit card APR stood at 35.1% in May 2024, according to the latest data from Moneyfacts. But if you’re able to shift your debt to a new card with 0% interest, you’ll save hundreds, or potentially even thousands of pounds – and become debt-free much quicker.

The process involves moving your existing credit card debt to a 0% balance transfer card, which charges you zero interest for a set amount of time. You need to pick a card that comes with enough months of 0% interest for you to clear your debt – otherwise you’ll start paying the representative APR once the promotional period is up.

But first, you should use an eligibility calculator to check which card you are likely to be accepted for. MoneySavingExpert.com has a 0% balance transfer calculator which carries out a “soft credit search” so it won’t be visible to companies or lenders.

Only those with excellent credit scores are likely to get the longest number of months advertised – but you may not necessarily need the longest period on offer anyway. There are sometimes fees involved when transferring your debt – however, if you don’t need the longest deal, there may be shorter cards available with cheaper, or sometimes no fees.

The longest 0% balance transfer card right now is from Barclaycard, where you could get up to 28 months interest-free. This card comes with a 3.45% fee and reverts to 24.9% APR at the end of the 0% period. The longest 0% period with no fee is from NatWest, where you could get 13 months interest-free.

You should always make your minimum repayments on your 0% balance transfer card, otherwise you risk losing the interest-free period. Finally, you should avoid spending or withdrawing cash on these cards as these uses are normally not charged at 0%.