Balance Transfer Credit Cards Compared — United States

A balance transfer only helps if the transfer fee costs less than the interest you'd otherwise pay. Most cards charge 3% to 5% upfront for a 0% window of around 15 to 21 months as of 2026. Move $8,000 at a 4% fee and you pay $320 today, but if your old card sat at 22% APR you'd have burned far more than that in a single year, so the trade can save real money. Here's where it goes wrong: keep charging on the new card, or miss the payoff deadline, and the deferred-interest math turns ugly fast. Skip this entirely if you can't stop spending or can't clear the balance before the intro rate ends. Confirm the fee, the exact intro length, and the go-to APR on the issuer's site first.

3 cards to compare side by side