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Written by
Nicole Dieker
Nicole Dieker has been a full-time freelance writer since 2012—and a personal finance enthusiast since 2004, when she graduated from college and, looking for financial guidance, found a battered copy of Your Money or Your Life at the public library. In addition to writing for Bankrate, her work has appeared on CreditCards.com, Vox, Lifehacker, Popular Science, The Penny Hoarder, The Simple Dollar and NBC News. Dieker spent five years as writer and editor for The Billfold, a personal finance blog where people had honest conversations about money. Dieker also teaches writing, freelancing and publishing classes and works one-on-one with authors as a developmental editor and copyeditor.
Edited by
Brooklyn Lowery
Brooklyn Lowery is a Senior Editor on the Bankrate credit cards education team where she focuses on helping everyday consumers leverage credit cards as powerful tools in their personal finance toolbox.
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A balance transfer can be a valuable tool if you’re struggling with high-interest credit card debt. Many credit card issuers offer balance transfer credit cards with introductory 0 percent annual percentage rate (APR) periods that allow you to pay down what you owe interest-free for periods of a year or longer — even up to 21 months.
With the right intro APR offer, you can avoid costly interest charges while you work to pay off your transferred balances, helping you pay down your debt faster while saving you money.
Let’s take a look at how to do a balance transfer with a credit card in five easy steps.
Like many things involving your personal finances, balance transfers have pros and cons worth considering. Take the necessary time for research and reflection before applying for a new card.
Bankrate writer Seychelle Thomas did a balance transfer in 2019 to pay off about $4,000 worth of credit card debt. Here’s what she researched before making her decision:
Before I applied for my balance transfer card, I centered my research around the features that mattered to me. That meant a longer promotional period, minimal fees and what credit scores qualified. I combed through rates and terms, compared offers and read user reviews. Part of my research was also working my budget to determine how much I could comfortably pay off each month during the 21 months of zero interest. — Seychelle Thomas, Bankrate credit cards writer
Before you get started, take a close look at your financial situation to see if you’re in the right position to do a balance transfer. Three main factors can help determine whether that’s true:
To know which balance transfer card is right for you, compare your top three card offers to find the best one. Here are a few things to look for when comparing balance transfer cards:
For one, be sure to take your potential credit limit into consideration. You can’t transfer a balance higher than your credit limit, and $10,000 is at the high end for most consumers. (Remember that any applicable balance transfer fees will also be deducted from your credit limit.)
Also be aware of the types of debt you can transfer. Most balance transfers involve moving debt from one or more credit cards to a new card. Though it’s less common, some issuers also allow you to transfer other types of debt, including car loans and student loans. Review the card’s terms and conditions before applying to make sure it can accommodate the type of debt you’re looking to transfer.
Finally, take the card’s variable APR into consideration before you apply. If you fail to pay off your balance within the allotted introductory window, the variable APR will kick in for your remaining balance.
You can apply for a balance transfer card online in a matter of minutes. To apply, you’ll need to provide basic personal and financial data, such as your name, address, Social Security Number and income. You’ll also want to make sure you have details for the credit cards you’re looking to transfer balances from on hand.
With some cards, you can begin the process of transferring balances as part of your application. In this case, the balance transfer credit card application will ask you for the credit card account number and balances you’re planning to transfer to your new card.
After you apply for your new balance transfer card, you’ll often find out if you’ve been approved right away. If you aren’t notified of your approval with your application, you may need to wait for an email from the credit card company. Learning that your card application is “pending” or “under review” can be nerve-wracking, but be patient — in most cases, you’ll hear back from your credit issuer within a few days.
In the event the issuer denies your application, look for a letter in the mail explaining the reasons for the denial.
Keep in mind: Applying for a balance transfer credit card usually results in a hard inquiry on your credit report, which can temporarily decrease your credit score. However, increasing your total available credit with a new balance transfer credit card can improve your credit utilization ratio and positively affect your credit score in the long run.
While each credit card issuer’s balance transfer process is slightly different, it’s usually a simple process you can likely complete in a few ways:
In any case, you’ll need to provide basic information about the credit cards you plan to transfer the balances from, including the card numbers and the amounts you’d like to transfer to your new card.
Balance transfers take time, and you may need to wait a few days to a few weeks for your transfer to complete. It’s important to keep making payments on your old cards until your balances have been fully moved over to your new 0 percent introductory APR credit card. If you don’t, you risk running up new interest charges and fees on your old cards for missed payments.
After your balance transfer is complete, follow up with your old credit card issuers to make sure those accounts show a $0 balance. Only after you confirm the $0 balance should you stop making payments (although you may not want to close the account).
Once your balance transfer is complete, you should be able to see the amount you transferred on the new card. To pay your debt off faster, prioritize making payments on the balance transfer credit card. Thomas used these tricks to pay off her balances within the time limit:
“After getting approved for the balance transfer and confirming that my old card was paid off, I set up monthly automatic payments for the amount needed to pay off my balance transfer before the end of the intro period and shoved the new card into my junk drawer to forget about it. That put my debt payoff plan on autopilot and made it easy to stay on track.”
Put the 0 percent APR introductory offer to good use by using it to pay down your debt while you aren’t accruing interest. And try to avoid adding new charges to the card.
The more money you can put toward your balance each month after your transfer is completed, the faster you’ll get out of debt. Each dollar you pay during your 0 percent APR period has a bigger impact since 100 percent of it goes toward the balance you owe — and not to interest payments.
Take a look at your monthly budget and identify any areas where you can reduce spending, at least temporarily. Controlling your spending will enable you to get a handle on your current debt, all while developing healthy money habits to help you avoid getting into debt again in the future.
The best balance transfer credit cards can make it a lot easier to consolidate and pay down debt while saving money on interest. If your credit score is above 670, and you have debt you could manage to pay off over a 0 percent introductory interest period, a balance transfer may be a great tool to help you pay down high-interest debt.
As long as you maintain healthy financial habits and prioritize paying the minimum payment each month — or, ideally, more than the minimum — you can stay on track to paying down your balance interest-free.
Arrow Right Contributor, Personal Finance
Nicole Dieker has been a full-time freelance writer since 2012—and a personal finance enthusiast since 2004, when she graduated from college and, looking for financial guidance, found a battered copy of Your Money or Your Life at the public library. In addition to writing for Bankrate, her work has appeared on CreditCards.com, Vox, Lifehacker, Popular Science, The Penny Hoarder, The Simple Dollar and NBC News. Dieker spent five years as writer and editor for The Billfold, a personal finance blog where people had honest conversations about money. Dieker also teaches writing, freelancing and publishing classes and works one-on-one with authors as a developmental editor and copyeditor.
Brooklyn Lowery is a Senior Editor on the Bankrate credit cards education team where she focuses on helping everyday consumers leverage credit cards as powerful tools in their personal finance toolbox.
