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If your monthly credit card repayment is proving a bit of a stretch right now, you can always try shifting your debt to a credit card with a 0% introductory offer on balance transfers.
More than half a dozen cards offer introductory 0% balance transfer deals of up to 15 or 16 months, giving you a lengthy breather from your monthly card repayments.
You can also find several cards offering 0% on purchases for a maximum introductory period of 12 months.
The drawback is that 0% deals are getting harder to find, unless you have a top-notch credit rating, says David Black, banking specialist at Defaqto. “Card providers have been stung by bad debts over the last few years, and are now concentrating on the quality of their lending rather than merely chasing volume.”
But if you have a clean credit record, you can access some attractive deals. Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire bank both offer Gold MasterCards charging an introductory 0% on balance transfers for 16 months.
When working out how much you will save, don’t forget to factor in the cost of switching.
Bothcards charge a 3% balance transfer fee, which will cost you £150 on a £5,000 balance.
Barclaycard Platinum, First Direct Gold Visa, HSBC Credit Card, NatWest Platinum Card and the RBS Platinum Card all charge 0% for 15 months, plus a 2.9% balance transfer fee. “Some of these deals are restricted to existing customers who already have other products with the same bank, typically a current account,” Black says.
If you prefer to save money on your new spending instead, Barclaycard Platinum and MBNA Retail Rewards Amex both offer 0% introductory rate on purchases for 12 months, as does the Sainsbury’s Credit Card, Tesco Clubcard and Virgin Credit Card 12/12. “This gives you a real incentive to change your card regularly to take advantage of the various introductory offers,” Black says.
Don’t squander the chance to save money through inertia, says Pierre Williams, head of research at Moneyexpert.com. “You should regularly compare your current credit card APR against the best deals on the market to see if you can do better elsewhere. Disappointingly, half of all credit card users haven’t done that in the past year.”
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