Balance Transfer Analyzer

When the transfer fee is smaller than the interest you'd otherwise pay. As a rule of thumb: the bigger your balance, the higher your current APR, and the longer the 0% promo, the more likely it pays off. It almost never makes sense if you can clear the debt in two or three months anyway — the 3–5% fee would cost more than the interest you'd save.

The remaining balance starts accruing interest at the card's regular APR. Some retail/store cards go further and charge deferred (retroactive) interest on the original balance back to day one — always check the terms before transferring to a store card.

3% of the transferred amount is the most common, with 5% on longer promo offers. A few cards offer 0% fee promotions, usually with shorter 0% windows. The fee is added to your balance on day one.

Expect a small temporary dip from the hard inquiry and the new account lowering your average account age. But moving debt to a new card with a fresh limit often lowers your overall utilization ratio, which can help your score within a few months.

Usually not — most issuers prohibit balance transfers between their own cards. You'll need a card from a different bank.

Many people keep it open with a zero balance, since that preserves credit history length and total available credit (which helps the utilization ratio). The critical part is that new spending stops on it.