Credit Card firms are busy cutting the rates of their balance transfer fees in order to help new and existing customers manage their finances with greater ease in these uncertain times. Credit companies are always looking out for the next big thing that will get customers to bite; for the last few years for example, we’ve seen the rise and rise of the 0% balance transfer cards.

Of course, the sting in the tail with 0% balance transfer cards has always been the handling fee that you pay for the transfer itself, and it is now this area of credit cards to which lenders are turning their attention.

Barclaycard have cut balance transfer fees from 3% to 2.5% on their One Pulse credit card, and earlier this year we saw the arrival of the Abbey Zero card, which comes with a double whammy of 0% on balance transfer fees for ever, and an introductory rate of 0% on balance transfers for 6 months – this gives you a time limit in which you can sort your finances out without having to pay a penny in handling fees and is a real life saver.

Over the last 18 months, the average balance transfer fee has risen from around 1.7% to almost double that amount with the majority of lenders charging 3% on long term balance transfer deals.

Both the Barclaycard Platinum Card and the Virgin Money card offer handling fee rates just shy of 3% at 2.9% and 2.98% respectively; these rates could well take a tumble in the months to come.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 19th, 2008 at 8:24 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.