{"id":133927,"date":"2023-01-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/what-is-a-balance-transfer-credit-card\/"},"modified":"2024-04-26T15:54:21","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T15:54:21","slug":"what-is-a-balance-transfer-credit-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/what-is-a-balance-transfer-credit-card\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a balance transfer credit card?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A balance transfer may be the answer to your credit card debt problems. Taking advantage of a low or 0% interest rate, balance transfer involves transferring debt from one account to another. As a result, it is possible to pay off your debt faster while improving your credit history and financial situation by saving money on interest payments, even if the principal remains the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Balance transfer fees can be waived by some <a href=\"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/6-things-to-know-before-you-get-a-credit-card\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">credit card<\/a> companies (usually between 3% and 5% of the transfer amount). A promotional period of six to 18 months, where no interest will be charged on the transferred money, may also be offered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Balance transfers, however, may negatively impact your credit scores, so be sure to understand this before proceeding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How do balance transfers work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Whenever you move money from one credit card to another that charges less interest, you are transferring a balance. A balance transfer can be an effective <a href=\"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/is-debt-management-plan-for-you\/\">debt management tool<\/a> when used wisely. Since these credit cards typically offer 0% interest for a limited time, that&#8217;s why they&#8217;re so popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore, you will be able to save money to pay off your debt more quickly. Reduced interest rates last only for a limited period of time before returning to normal interest rates. Fees for transfers are often added to your account balance, so make sure your balance is accurate before you transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Perks of a balance transfer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/how-to-use-a-balance-transfer-credit-card\/\">Using a balance transfer credit card<\/a> could help you pay down more of your debt if you&#8217;re trying to reduce your interest payments from your existing credit cards. Because balance transfer cards often have interest-free periods, you can make progress on your total debt over a longer period of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It can also be easier to keep <a href=\"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/how-to-set-up-your-credit-card-autopay-feature\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">track of payments<\/a> if you consolidate several credit card balances onto a single card. Choosing the right credit card is important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/how-to-use-a-balance-transfer-credit-card\/\">how to use balance transfer<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Should you opt for a balance transfer?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The quickest, most cost-effective way to pay off your debt is to pay it off within three months or less if you can&#8217;t qualify for a 0% APR offer. If you&#8217;re willing to pay interest and would like a higher limit, you can apply for a personal loan. You can first pre-qualify to know how much you can borrow and what your interest rate will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For those with good credit and who need months to repay high-interest debt, the 0% introductory <a href=\"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/financial_terms\/annual-percentage-rate-apr\/\">APR is a good option<\/a>. With such a card, you can save quite a bit on interest and take advantage of interest-free payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What qualifies as a good credit balance transfer?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Balance transfers are designed to save you money, so choose a card that minimizes your costs. There are three big zeros on the ideal balance transfer credit card:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Balance transfers are eligible for 0% introductory APR.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There is no annual fee.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Having no balance transfer fee (or avoiding such a fee).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With such a card, you could pay off your debt without spending a penny on interest and fees. It is rare to find a credit card without a transfer fee nowadays, so you will likely only find two of the three. It is still quite valuable to have a card with zero annual fees and a 0% introductory balance transfer offer. The cost of interest charges can add up quickly and is often much more expensive than a one-time fee of 3% to 5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eventually, as a result of opening a new account, you&#8217;ll have more available credit, and your debt-to-credit ratio will be lower. It&#8217;s still possible to hurt your credit scores if you don&#8217;t take care. When you continue to use the old card &#8211; even after transferring the balance &#8211; you may increase your utilization ratio, add to your debt, and ultimately get back into the same situation. It is worth noting that while a few cards are ideal for balance transfers, there are a few that aren&#8217;t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is easier to keep track of payments if you consolidate several credit card balances onto a single card. Choosing the right card is important.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":221164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2309],"tags":[2200,2199,531,542,2197,107,216],"edited-by":[],"class_list":["post-133927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-credit","tag-balance-transfer","tag-balance-transfer-credit-card","tag-credit-card","tag-debt-management","tag-everyday-credit-cards","tag-financial-planning","tag-save-money"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133927"},{"taxonomy":"edited-by","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trybeem.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/edited-by?post=133927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}