No Balance Transfer Fee Credit Cards

The best free balance transfer credit card used to be Chase Slate because it offered an introductory APR of 0% for 15 months on balance transfers, a $0 balance transfer fee for 60 days, and a $0 annual fee. Chase Slate also gave 0% for 15 months on new purchases. Unfortunately, Slate is not accepting new applications for the moment.

There are a few free balance transfer offers available right now. But it’s important to remember that no balance transfer is guaranteed to be free. If you get the right card and repay what you owe by the time regular rates take effect, you’ll have yourself a free transfer. But if you have a balance remaining at that point, or you miss a monthly minimum payment along the way, you’ll end up owing interest.

Best free balance transfer credit cards:

• SunTrust Prime Rewards Credit Card: 3.25% (V) for 36 months on balance transfers, $0 balance transfer fee for 60 days, $0 annual fee.
• Navy Federal Credit Union Platinum Credit Card: 0% for 12 months on balance transfers, $0 balance transfer fee, $0 annual fee.
• Edward Jones Business Credit Card: 0% for 12 months on balance transfers, $0 balance transfer fee, $0 annual fee.
• Citi Simplicity: intro APR of 0% for 18 months on balance transfers, 3% (min $5) balance transfer fee, $0 annual fee.
• U.S. Bank Visa® Platinum Card: 0% for 20 months on balance transfers, 3% (min $5) balance transfer fee, $0 annual fee.
• Bank of America® Cash Rewards Credit Card for Students: 0% for 12 months on balance transfers, 3% (min $10) balance transfer fee, $0 annual fee.
• Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card: intro APR of 0% for 18 months on balance transfers, 3% (min $5) balance transfer fee, $0 annual fee.

All in all, it’s difficult to find a balance transfer credit card that not only has a 0% intro APR but also charges no annual fee and balance transfer fee. Now, banks tend to offer either no balance transfer fee credit cards or 0% balance transfers, but not both.

If you’re a student or have at least good credit, though, you’ve got some good options.

A balance transfer is a good idea if you have good or excellent credit and make an affordable payment plan prior to applying. You generally need good credit or better to get a 0% balance transfer credit card, though these introductory periods are temporary. Most balance transfer cards have very high regular APRs, making it important to repay what you owe before the 0% period ends.

You’ll also want to make sure the new card’s balance transfer fee is as low as possible. The average fee is just under 3%. But, from time to time, there are credit cards that have both 0% APR on balance transfers and no balance transfer fee.

You can use WalletHub’s balance transfer calculator to compare the cost of repaying what you owe with your current card versus taking advantage of the best balance transfer offers. You can also check your latest credit score for free on WalletHub, the only site with free daily updates.

Lifetime balance transfer credit cards are simply cards that offer the same balance transfer APR for the lifetime of your transferred debt. In other words, from the time you first transfer your balance to the time you pay it off, the terms of your interest rate will not change, unless you become more than 60 days delinquent. Most credit cards with no balance transfer fees, and any other cards that do not have introductory balance transfer APRs, can therefore be thought of as lifetime balance transfer cards.

While no credit card company would offer 0% on balance transfers for an indefinite period of time, it is not uncommon to find low rates on lifetime balance transfer credit cards. Thus, they are viable alternatives for anyone who a). won’t be able to get out of debt for a couple of years and b). values simplicity and predictability.

The Barclaycard balance transfer fee is 3% of the amount transferred or $5 (whichever is more) for all Barclays credit cards but the Ring Card. Barclaycard Ring’s balance transfer fee is2% (min. $5).

Barclaycard’s balance transfer fees, like those charged by most credit card issuers, are a percentage of the amount you’re transferring or a flat fee, whichever is greater. So if you’re transferring $166 or less, you’ll pay a flat $5. If it’s more than that, you’ll pay 2% or 3% of the transfer amount.

The balance transfer fee gets added to what you owe as soon as you make a transfer. If you have a 0% balance transfer Barclaycard, you won’t have to pay interest on that balance until your intro rate ends. And luckily, there are several excellent Barclaycard 0% balance transfer offers.

Barclaycard Balance Transfer Offers:

• Barclaycard Ring: 0% for 15 months*, 2% balance transfer fee, $0 annual fee
• Barclaycard Arrival Plus: 0% for 12 billing cycles*, 3% balance transfer fee, $89 annual fee ($0 first year)
• JetBlue Card: 0% for 12 months, 3% balance transfer fee, $0 annual fee
• Frontier Airlines Credit Card: 0% for 15 months, 3% balance transfer fee, $79 annual fee
• Lufthansa Miles & More World Elite Mastercard: 0% for 15 months, 3% balance transfer fee, $89 annual fee

While Barclaycard has plenty of cards offering 0% intro APR for balance transfers, it’s not recommended to get a balance transfer card that has an annual fee. Your best option is the Barclaycard Ring, thanks to its long 0% intro period, $0 annual fee, and a lower balance transfer fee than other Barclays credit cards.

For starters, you shouldn’t even consider a balance transfer credit card that doesn’t have either a 0% intro APR or a $0 balance transfer fee. And ideally, you want both. The easiest way to compare balance transfer credit cards is in terms of your total expected cost. In other words, how much will you have to spend on fees and interest charges while paying your balance down to zero? And the easiest way to crunch those numbers is with a credit card calculator.

​​​​But if you want to do things the hard way, we’ll try to make it as easy as possible for you. If you want to see how a 0% balance transfer credit card stacks up against a credit card with no transfer fee, divide the 0% card’s balance transfer fee by the length of its intro period (in years). For example, a card with 0% for six months and a 3% fee is basically the same thing as a card offering 6% and no fee (3% / 0.5 years = 6%). This is a rough way to convert a balance transfer fee into a balance transfer APR, thus turning an apples-to-oranges comparison into a level playing field.

Unfortunately not. Balance transfer fees are actually among the least-clearly-expressed account terms on credit card applications, according to WalletHub research. So you might have to scour the fine print or use the “Ctrl + F” hot-key command (if you are applying online) to find it. Even if the application is for a no transfer fee credit card, the lack of a fee will still be listed in the terms and conditions.

A balance transfer credit card can be your ticket to savings and out of credit card debt. But you need to use it responsibly. If you don't, you could wind up making the situation worse. With that in mind, here are a few balance transfer mistakes to avoid:

1. Assuming 0% balance transfer offers are always around:People often think they can just hop from one 0% balance transfer card to another until debt-free. But if the music stops and you're stuck with a big balance and a high regular APR, this will prove to be a very costly mistake. And when the economy takes a turn for the worse, it's very possible that no 0% transfer cards will be available, especially those with no transfer fee.
2. Overestimating your ability to pay: This will result in more of your debt being exposed to a card's regular APR. Considering that the average 0% balance transfer credit card has a regular rate of 17.51%, you certainly don't want that.
3. Forgetting that most regular APRs are variable: When interest rates are hovering near historical lows, there's really only one way variable rates can go. And it's not down.

Finally, failing to use a balance transfer credit card calculator is a big mistake. This type of free tool is the best way to plan your payments and estimate your savings. And it will help you pay off what you owe before expensive regular rates kick in.

When people talk about no fee credit cards, they usually mean those without annual and monthly membership fees. But some folks want more: a truly fee-free credit card, with no past-due fees, over-limit fees, balance-transfer fees or foreign-exchange fees, either. Cards lacking all such fees do indeed exist. The PenFed Promise Credit Card is one good example. However, there are two important things you need to understand about such offers:

First, if you need a card without over-limit and past-due fees, you shouldn’t be looking for a credit card at all. The damage you’ll do to your credit by missing payments or maxing out your spending limit will surely outweigh whatever you save by avoiding fees for those offenses. This is especially true in the post-CARD Act era, as penalty fees can’t exceed the actions that trigger them. For example, if you spend $5 more than your allotted credit limit, the maximum fee would be $5.

Secondly, there’s no perfect credit card. Every offer has its fair share of pros and cons, and credit cards that lack fees entirely usually compensate by offering worse rewards or interest rates. That’s why credit cards without balance transfer fees have relatively high APRs, why rewards cards without fees tend to offer reduced earning rates, and so on.

The moral of the story is that you should compare credit card offers solely based on the features that will affect you most, given your spending and payment habits. After all, if you plan on using your card for rewards, why would you care if it has a balance transfer fee?

The value of a balance transfer card depends on four main factors:

1. Balance transfer fee
2. Introductory APR for transfers
3. Length of the introductory period
4. Regular APR (applies once the intro terms expire)

It can be difficult to balance all of these terms. So we recommend using a balance transfer calculator. This will help you determine not only how long it will take you to pay off your balance, but also which balance transfer credit card will save you the most money.

If you anticipate being able to repay your full balance within a card’s 0% intro period, you can focus on avoiding a balance transfer fee. The regular APR won’t affect you, after all.

But if you don’t think you’ll be approved for a card with a long enough 0% intro period to repay your full balance, the regular rate will indeed come into play. And the card with the longest introductory period won’t necessarily be the best balance transfer credit card for you. So you’ll have to compare the cost of paying down what you owe with each card you’re considering. And you’ll need to take into account how much you expect to owe at the end of each card’s 0% period as well as how expensive that amount will be, in light of each card’s regular APR.

Finally, don’t make the mistake of assuming another balance transfer credit card will be available to bail you out if you don’t reach debt freedom by the time regular rates take effect. Many people learned this lesson the hard way during the Great Recession.

A balance transfer fee is exactly what it sounds like: A fee charged for transferring debt from a loan or line of credit to a credit card. Most balance transfer credit cards have transfer fees. And these fees are typically listed as either a percentage of the amount transferred or a minimum dollar amount, whichever is higher.

The average balance transfer fee is just over 3% of the amount transferred, according to WalletHub’s latest Credit Card Landscape Report. But some cards charge as much as 5%. On the other end of the spectrum, some of the best balance transfer credit cards don’t have balance transfer fees.

For more information, check out WalletHub’s balance transfer guide.