Some credit cards offer equally generous 0% deals on both purchases and balance transfers making them an ideal solution if you only want to carry one piece of plastic. Here’s how to choose the best credit card for purchases and balance transfers for you.
Until recently combining interest free credit card deals, that is making purchases and balance transfers on a single credit card, was a big ‘no-no’.
Make this mistake and you’d invariably find that any new purchases you made would get trapped on the card accumulating interest at a hefty rate until you’d paid down any balances you’d transferred as part of a 0% balance transfer deal.
Fortunately, recent changes in legislation have forced credit card providers to change the way they allocate your repayments. They now have to use your money to clear the most expensive balances on your card (those earning the highest rate of interest) first.
This means that if you choose carefully you can get away with using one card to give you two interest free credit card deals.
The best 0% credit cards on purchases and balance transfers offer equal introductory offers for both. This helps to keep things straight forward so that you have a target in mind as to when you’ll need to either repay the card in full, or look to make a 0% balance transfer to a different card so you avoid paying interest.
However, choosing a single card for interest free purchases and balance transfers isn’t as simple as going for the option that offers you the longest interest free period.
Instead you need to work out how long it’s likely to take you to repay anything you borrow and choose a 0% credit card that offers a sufficient interest free deal but charges the lowest balance transfer fee for the privilege.
The most straight forward way to do this is to work out how much you can afford to repay each month and from this to decide how long you need interest free.
You can then use our 0% purchases and balance transfer credit card comparison table to find the best interest free credit cards that offer you a sufficient 0% period for the lowest balance transfer fee.
One thing to consider is that the length of the 0% period offered by even the best 0% balance transfer & purchases credit cards is usually less than the deals available on cards that offer if you got separate 0% purchase credit cards and 0% balance transfers.
As such, you should compare all of your options to see whether getting a single 0% balance transfer & purchases credit card or applying for both a 0% balance transfer credit card and a 0% purchases credit card will work out cheapest for you in the long run.
