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Free Balance Transfer Credit Cards – Compare & Apply Online for Free Balance Transfers

Posted August 3rd, 2010 and last modified December 29th, 2011

Find out how to do a balance transfer free of any interest charges

Have you overspent on your existing credit card and are now paying the high price of interest?

ANZ Low Rate MasterCard - Balance Transfer

Featured Balance Transfer Credit Card

Transfer your balance onto an ANZ Low Rate MasterCard to take advantage of a low 12 month balance transfer offer. You will also save with a low rate on purchases and up to 55 days interest free.

  • $58 annual fee
  • 0% p.a. for 3 months (reverts to 13.24% p.a.) on purchases
  • 0% p.a. for 3 months on balance transfers
  • Cash Advance Rate of 21.49% p.a.
  • 55 days interest free
  • Minimum Income Requirement of $15,000 p.a.

Anyone who has a high credit card balance, and can only afford to pay off some of the balance each month will tell you that the interest charges that get added to the balance, make clearing the debt altogether a big uphill struggle.

A credit card with free balance transfer makes it much easier, and cheaper to pay off your debt, and to pay it off much quicker than you otherwise may have been able to.

So How Do Free Balance Transfer Cards Work?

When you transfer your existing debt over to a free balance transfers credit card, what you are doing is saving yourself money on interest.

Each month your credit card provider will be charging you interest at a percentage of your outstanding balance. This increases the amount you owe, and when the effects of compound interest are taken into account, the debt can increase rapidly.

With a fee free balance transfer you are getting a special promotional rate of interest for a certain period of time. In the case of a 0% balance transfer credit card offer, you are essentially getting the card for free, because as long as you then pay off the balance completely within the low rate period you will pay no interest whatsoever.

Many of the big free balance transfer offers have promotional periods that run from anywhere between 6-12 months which gives you a massive amount of respite from the burden of expensive interest charges.

Sounds Great! What’s the Catch?

There isn’t really a catch so to speak, however there are certain things that you need to look for and pay attention to with free balance transfers.

Check how long the promotional rate is for – The major part of a free balance transfer offer is making sure you have all (or most) of the outstanding balance paid off by the end of the low promotional rate.

If your debt is not completely paid off by this time then you start to accrue interest. By being certain of how long you have your low rate for you should be able to budget better, and do as much as you can to ensure the debt is paid in full on time.

Don’t make purchases with your free balance transfers credit card – Your low interest rate only applies to the balance that has been transferred. Most of the time any new purchases made with the card will be charged at the standard rate of interest, which with many free balance transfer cards can be a lot higher than usual.

Be sure of your terms – With any credit card you should fully understand the terms and conditions. You need to be sure you understand your obligations as a customer, and your lenders obligations to you.

Make sure you understand any late fees, or penalty charges that you may face for missing payments, or increasing your credit limit. These kinds of things can often catch you by surprise if you have not made yourself familiar with the terms properly.

Do not miss payments – Not only will it affect your credit history, but missing a payment with a free balance transfer credit card can lead to hefty charges, and even a loss of promotional rate in some extreme cases.

Be sure to budget, and make sure you can afford to pay the minimum monthly payment at the very least.

How Do I Apply for free balance transfer offers?

Depending on your lender there are various ways to apply for a credit card deal. The first thing you should do is to compare the different free balance transfer cards available so you can be sure you are getting the best deal for yourself.

Once you have found the lender you wish to go to then you should either phone them up, visit your local branch, or even apply online. Generally most credit card companies offer you the facility to apply for a card online, and most will give you an instant decision.

It will probably take you around 10-15 minutes to complete the application for a free balance transfer, and you will need various details to hand for instance details of your incoming’s and outgoing’s in financial terms, as well as things like previous address details, information about your present and past employers, and details off any other cards or debts you may hold.

You need to be completely accurate with this information as any misinformation will be spotted very quickly. Most lenders will also run a credit check on you as standard, so it may be worth having a look at your credit file before applying so you can clear up any mistakes.

What’s The Best Way to Compare Free Balance Transfer Offers?

Nowadays probably the quickest and easiest ways to compare fee free balance transfer deals is on the Internet. There are many websites that are dedicated to bringing you up to date information, and helping you to compare credit cards.

You should look at a number of issues when comparing cards:

  • Length of promotional period
  • Balance transfer rate
  • Standard interest rate
  • Cash advance rate
  • Interest free days
  • Annual fee
  • Rewards programs

Many websites will actually compare different banks based on each individual point, so you can choose your lender based on the feature that is most important to you as a customer.

There are many credit card with free balance transfer offers available today, although one offer that caught our eye was the HSBC balance transfer credit card .

This is just one of many interest free balance transfer deals out there. See our balance transfer credit card guide for more.

Check out today's featured offers:

Westpac Low Rate Citibank Clear Platinum Qantas AMEX Discovery ANZ Platinum
Westpac Low Rate Card St George Vertigo American Express Qantas Discovery Card ANZ Platinum Credit Card

0% p.a. for 6 months

on purchases & balance transfers

2.9% p.a. for 12 months
on balance transfers

$0 annual fee

Up to 10,000 Bonus QFF Points

0% p.a. for 6 months on

purchases & balance transfers

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  Interest Rate (p.a.) Balance Transfer Rate (p.a.) Annual fee Cash Advance Rate (p.a.)  
Westpac Low Rate Card - 0% Offer
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A credit card with a low rate offer on both balance transfers and purchases, plus a low annual fee.0% for 6 months (reverts to 13.49% )0% for 6 months$4521.49%Apply Now For The Westpac Low Rate Card - 0% Offer Read More About The Westpac Low Rate Card - 0% Offer
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ANZ Platinum Credit Card
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An introductory interest rate offer on balance transfers and purchases, plus a $0 first year annual fee.0% for 6 months (reverts to 19.24% )0% for 6 months$0 annual fee for the first year( $87 thereafter)20.99%Apply Now For The ANZ Platinum Credit Card Read More About The ANZ Platinum Credit Card