Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards

The best balance transfer credit cards have grown to become a typical part of most consumers’ financial strategy over the past several years. With U.S. credit card balances reaching $1.26 trillion in the second quarter of 2026, it’s only natural to look for a way to decrease the cost of eliminating that debt.

When you set up the right balance transfer plan, you can potentially clear your existing high-interest credit card debt without incurring finance charges. But with so many balance transfer offers available, how can you pick the best one? Here’s what you need to know.

The concept is certainly simple enough — you move your existing balances from your current credit cards to a new credit card account with a lower interest rate — which, hopefully, saves you some money in the process. But beyond that, you should become familiar with a number of other details before pulling the trigger on this type of credit card offer.

1. What is a Balance Transfer Credit Card?

As the name implies, a balance transfer credit card offers a straightforward way to shift existing debt from an old credit card with a high interest rate to a new one with a lower rate. If you have multiple balances, it can also serve as a form of debt consolidation by allowing you to move them to a single card.

But these cards aren’t only for balance transfers. They function like any other credit card that allows you to make new purchases, so long as you have the available credit limit to cover the purchase.

Just about any credit card will allow a balance transfer that fits within your available credit limit. What sets the cards on this list apart is that they have special promotional periods for new cardholders that let you transfer your existing balance over to the new card, while paying the debt down without interest charges for a set period of time (typically between six and 18 months).

Balance transfers are a smart means of debt consolidation for those who qualify for 0% interest. The video below explains how 0% APR balance transfer cards work and four rules to know before transferring your debt.

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For many people, credit card debt is the most expensive debt they will ever service. A balance transfer card can lower your interest rate to zero so you can pay off your debt more quickly — and much more affordably.

A bonus also worth noting is that consolidating multiple debts onto a new, single account may make managing your monthly payments and your debt elimination strategies a bit easier.

It’s essential to do a balance transfer for the right reasons to benefit you financially. If you’re just shifting debt around to manage expenses, it might not be the best idea.

If you feel like you can’t fully commit to aggressively paying off the credit card debt on your new account, it might be wise to reconsider applying for more credit.

2. How Much Can You Save With a Balance Transfer?

The amount you can save with a balance transfer depends on your current APR, the new card’s promotional rate and balance transfer fee, and how quickly you repay the debt.

You can carefully calculate the numbers to ensure that moving your outstanding balance to a new account is financially beneficial.

In many cases, balance transfers can save you money despite a balance transfer fee, but don’t take that for granted — crunch the numbers yourself first.

3. How Do You Transfer a Balance to a New Card?

The process of moving your existing balances from an old card to a new card is not difficult, though it may vary slightly from one card issuer to the next. Once you have been approved for a new account, you can contact your new credit card issuer online or over the phone to begin the process.

Before reaching out to your card issuer, it is helpful to gather all of the information you will need in advance.

Make a list of the accounts you want to transfer balances from, including account numbers and amounts for each card. When you contact your new card issuer, be sure to mention your interest in their 0% (or low APR) introductory balance transfer offer.

A customer service rep should be able to walk you through the process step by step. Once the request has been approved, the ball will be in your new card issuer’s court. The new issuer will generally contact your existing credit card company/companies to arrange to pay the amount(s) you have specified.

If your old balances are fully paid off with the transfer, any future payments will go to your new card issuer. However, if the transfer only covers part of your old debt, you’ll need to make monthly payments to both your new and old creditors.

A common mistake during the balance transfer process is that people often stop making payments on the account they’re transferring from. Keep in mind, these transfers can take some time to complete.

If you have a monthly payment due while the balance transfer is still taking place — and you don’t pay it — you may face a late fee and damage to your credit score.

The time it takes to complete your credit card balance transfer depends on your new card’s issuer and the bank you’re transferring your old balance from. Based on our research with major credit card issuers, here’s what you can expect regarding the transfer timeline:

American Express: 5 to 7 business days
Barclays: Up to 3 weeks
Capital One: Up to 15 business days
Citi: Between 2 and 21 business days
Discover: Between 4 and 14 business days
Chase: Between 7 and 21 business days

Keep these time frames in mind when planning your credit card balance transfer strategy. If any payment you make during the transfer exceeds the amount you owe, the credit card company will issue a refund after the balance transfer is complete.

Although most people associate balance transfer offers with only newly opened credit card accounts, you may be able to take advantage of a balance transfer to your existing credit card account as well.

In fact, if you have an open credit card account with a large available credit limit, your credit card issuer may even offer you lower-interest balance transfer promotions from time to time.

4. What is a Balance Transfer Promotional Period?

You might be tempted by a low introductory interest rate on a balance transfer, but keep in mind these rates only last for a specific time. The promotional periods can vary greatly, depending on the issuer and the specific offer.

Once the promotional period has ended, you will be charged your new account’s regular interest rate on any balance left over from your initial transfer of funds.

If you want to get the most bang for your buck, then, by all means, you should aim to pay off your full balance before the end of the intro period. Failing to eliminate your credit card balance during the promotional period negates some of your potential savings from a lower-rate or 0% introductory APR.

5. How Do You Find the Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards?

Applying for promotional balance transfer cards just to find out which one gives you the best terms is not a wise financial move. You’d be loading up your credit reports with damaging inquiries and new accounts that will certainly lower the average age of your credit, neither of which is good for your credit scores.

Before applying for a balance transfer card, it’s wise to thoroughly research your options. Doing your homework in advance can ensure you make the right choice.

Online research is the easiest way to find the best available deals on balance transfer credit card offers at any time. When searching for the best offer, pay close attention to all applicable fees, terms, and conditions, including:

• Introductory APR and balance transfer APR
• Balance transfer fees
• When your low introductory rate expires
• What your new APR will be on the remaining balances after the intro rate ends
• Credit limits and any maximum transfer caps that may be set by the issuing bank

The comparison boxes provided above can give you a good idea of the terms of the best balance transfer credit cards without your actually having to apply for any of them.

Despite the fact that most cardholders don’t read their cardholder agreements, you should at least take the time to become somewhat familiar with them. The full terms and conditions of the offer, including those pertaining to any introductory rates, may be available only through a separate link on the card issuer’s website. And, in some cases, they’ll be mailed to you.

If you have difficulty locating the terms and conditions on a credit card offer, you can always call the issuing bank with questions before applying.

6. How Do Balance Transfers Impact Your Credit Scores?

The impact a balance transfer has on your credit scores is going to depend on a variety of factors. Also, because no two people have the exact same credit reports, a new balance transfer may not affect your credit scores the exact same way it affects my credit scores.

Those statements aside, a balance transfer can be a positive move from a credit scoring perspective in many cases. Credit scoring models like VantageScore and FICO heavily consider the balances on your credit card accounts. More specifically, they consider how the credit card balances displayed on your reports relate to your available credit limits.

The higher your balances relative to your credit limits, the higher your credit utilization rate (or ratio) will be. That’s not good for your scores.

A lower credit utilization ratio will often impact your credit scores positively. Provided you leave your existing credit card account(s) open, and you don’t run up additional credit card debt, a new balance transfer card should lower your revolving utilization ratio — a potential win-win for both your credit scores and your wallet.

Here’s an example of how to calculate CUR for someone who has three credit cards and a $10,000 overall credit limit:

	Card A	Card B	Card C	Overall
Balance	$500	$0	$2,150	$2,650
Credit Limit	$2,000	$3,000	$5,000	$10,000
Utilization Ratio	25%	0%	43%	26.50%

Opening a new balance transfer card could have a negative impact on your scores a couple of ways, albeit probably only slightly. First, when a lender pulls one of your credit reports as part of the application for your new account, a hard inquiry will be recorded on that report.

That hard inquiry might slightly lower your credit scores on that specific report. Generally, a single inquiry isn’t a big deal from a credit scoring perspective. But if you apply for numerous balance transfer cards in a short time, multiple inquiries can have a more significant negative impact on your score.

Opening a new account of any kind can lower the average age of accounts on your credit reports. From a scoring perspective, older accounts generally contribute positively to your credit score.

Lowering this average account age could have a slightly negative impact on your credit scores. And, if you open several cards in a short period, you’ll lower the average age of your accounts considerably.

Despite the factors discussed above, a balance transfer commonly has a positive overall credit score impact. Of course, for any positive impact to stick, it is important to lower the amount of your credit card debt.

7. Do You Need Excellent Credit for a Low-Interest Credit Card Offer?

Low-interest cards and qualifying balance transfer deals are normally reserved for consumers who have good credit or excellent credit scores. You will likely need to have good-to-excellent credit if you hope to qualify.

Lenders typically will not extend their most attractive promotional balance transfer offers to consumers they consider to be high-risk applicants, as indicated by their lower credit scores.

Now and then, you may come across a balance transfer offer marketed to consumers with fair credit ratings. However, these promotional deals typically are not quite as sweet as the promos you may land if you had good credit, and they may have extra fees, such as a high annual fee.

FICO Score Range	Credit Rating	Balance Transfer Offer Outlook
300–579	Poor	Low-interest promotional offers may be difficult to qualify for.
580–669	Fair	Some offers may be available, but terms can be less favorable.
670–739	Good	Applicants are generally better positioned for competitive offers.
740–799	Very Good	Applicants are generally well positioned for competitive terms.
800–850	Exceptional	Applicants may have access to the most favorable available offers.

If your credit rating is not great right now, it’s wise to focus on improving your creditworthiness before applying for new low-interest card offers. Applying for prime credit card offers with a subprime score is likely to lead to rejection.

And, to add insult to injury, the credit inquiry may lower your credit score even more.

Keep in mind that you can also leverage prequalification forms through many of the biggest credit card issuers. These forms will run a soft credit check on your account that won’t leave a hard inquiry behind. Based on the data provided, the credit card issuer can often make a non-binding decision on whether you qualify for the card before you officially apply.

While prequalification doesn’t guarantee card approval, it usually indicates a good chance once you submit your official application.

8. What is a Balance Transfer Fee?

Most balance transfers involve a small transaction fee, typically ranging from 3% to 5% of the amount transferred. These fees are set by the card issuer for the new account.

Let’s say, for example, you have a card with a $1,500 balance, and the balance transfer fee is 5%. That means your balance transfer fee would be $75. When debt balances are higher, you can see how this amount can significantly increase. Another example, if you had a $10,000 credit card balance, that same 5% fee would cost you $500.

9. Can You Earn Cash Back or Rewards on Balance Transfers?

Although every issuer sets its own policies, you typically cannot qualify for cash back, miles, or rewards points on balance transfers. Credit card issuers almost always include language in their agreements that excludes balance transfers from earning rewards or qualifying for a signup bonus and instead limits rewards only to new qualifying purchases.

You typically cannot qualify for cash back, miles, or rewards points on balance transfers.

If you think about it, you likely received some form of credit card rewards when you first incurred the debt. Getting rewarded for it again, without making a new purchase, doesn’t really make sense for the new issuer. If you want to qualify for rewards and signup bonuses, you will likely have to rely on new purchases rather than balance transfers to earn such perks from your card issuer.

10. Do Balance Transfer Credit Cards Require a Monthly Payment?

When you transfer an existing balance from one credit card account to another, you will be required to make at least the minimum payment due on the account each billing cycle moving forward.

Of course, for you to really benefit financially from a balance transfer, you should plan to follow a much more aggressive repayment schedule.

Before you decide which card you want to apply for, be certain that you understand the full time frame for the card’s interest-free promotion. At times, a card may offer two different 0% APR windows — such as 18 months for new purchases and six months for balance transfers. Don’t assume that the window is the same for both types of transactions.

But, if you are fortunate enough to qualify for a balance transfer card and then you rack up a much higher balance or you miss payments or you charge up the pre-existing card, then you’re going to find yourself in trouble twice over.

This is a bad idea. One of the biggest mistakes you can make with a new balance transfer card is to miss your payments.

You might be offered an introductory rate on a new card or for a balance transfer. The introductory rate has to stay in effect for at least six months, unless you are more than 60 days late on a payment. — CFPB

If you make late payments, your card issuer might charge a late fee.

Make it a point to always pay your minimum payments on time, no matter what. Missing payments, whether it’s a balance transfer card or another credit type, never leads to anything good.

Editorial Note: Our site content is not provided or commissioned by any credit card issuer(s). Opinions expressed on CardRates.com are the author's alone, not those of any credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by credit card issuers. Every reasonable effort has been made to maintain accurate information; however, all credit card offer details, including information about rewards, signup bonuses, introductory offers, and other terms and conditions, is presented without warranty. Clicking on any offer on CardRates.com will direct you to the issuer's website, where you can review the current terms and conditions of the offer.

The information on this page was reviewed for accuracy on August 26, 2026.

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