12 Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards of December 2024

Generally speaking, you’ll need good to excellent credit to be approved for a balance transfer credit card. That’s roughly defined as a credit score of 690 or better. When someone transfers debt to a new credit card, the issuer of that card is accepting the risk that it might not get paid back. Issuers want to minimize that risk as much as possible, so they prefer applicants with good credit.

Keep in mind, though, that credit scores alone do not guarantee approval for any credit card. Card issuers look at a range of factors when considering applications. They want to see that you have income so you’ll be able to pay your bill. They pay attention to how much other debt you have to evaluate the likelihood that you’ll be able to make payments on all of it.

Because credit scores aren’t the only metric that’s considered, people with credit scores above 800 can (and do) get rejected for balance transfer credit cards. And people with scores below 690 can (and do) get approved. We took a look at approval rates for credit cards on this page among people who have registered for NerdWallet and activated their free credit score.

Over a 10-month period in 2024, the average credit score among applicants for balance transfer credit cards on this page was 701. The average credit score among those approved was 727. The majority of applicants with scores over 720 were approved. However, our data show that some people with scores below 690 — sometimes referred to as “fair” credit — were still able to qualify.

Moving debt to a balance transfer credit card with a 0% introductory APR period can definitely save you money on interest in the short term, but it’s not without its own costs. Most notably, these cards charge a balance transfer fee. If you’d be able to pay off your debt in a couple of months even without a transfer, it might make more sense to leave it where it is and pay it off there. That’s because the transfer fee might end up costing more than what you’d save in interest. You can use our balance transfer calculator to get a general sense of how much you might save.

Another consideration: You might get approved for a balance transfer credit card, but the issuer might limit how much you’re allowed to transfer. For example, say you have $12,000 in credit card debt you’d like to transfer. You apply for a balance transfer credit card and are approved for a transfer limit of $5,000. You could still save money by moving some of the debt to the new card, but you can’t move all of it.

Ideally, moving debt to a balance transfer credit card will be the first step toward paying off that debt fully. When you’re saving money each month on interest, that’s money you can apply toward paying down the debt more quickly and finally getting out of debt entirely. What you don’t want to do is fall into a cycle of transferring debt from one card to another, letting it sit on that card until the 0% period runs out, then moving it to another card.

This page includes a variety of balance transfer cards, each of which delivers value in its own way. Some of them offer a 0% introductory APR period and not much more. Others pay rewards on your spending, meaning they can continue to deliver value long after the 0% period ends. Here’s what to consider when looking at balance transfer cards.

If the balance transfer math works in your favor, here’s what to do.

A balance transfer credit card can be a powerful tool for getting out from under high-interest credit card debt. But as with any tool, you have to know how to use it for it to be effective. We’ve touched on some of these already, but here are the most common mistakes people make with their balance transfer card.

We mentioned above that you can’t transfer debt from, say, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card to the Chase Freedom Unlimited®. That’s because both of these cards are issued by Chase, and you can’t transfer debt among cards from the same issuer. But Chase issues plenty of credit cards that don’t have “Chase” in the name — the United℠ Explorer Card, for example, or the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card. You can’t transfer debt from any of those cards to a Chase-branded card either. So double-check which bank issued your card, regardless of which brand name is on the front.

If your only significant credit card debt is a $3,000 balance that you want to transfer, and you otherwise have good credit, you have a good chance of getting approved for a balance transfer credit card — and for getting a credit limit high enough to move it all. By contrast, if you have $40,000 in balances spread across a few maxed-out cards, you might not get approved for a balance transfer card at all, no matter how good your credit. Or you might get approved, but not with enough of a credit limit to move much of the debt.

Card issuers don’t offer balance transfer cards out of the goodness of their hearts. They do it to make money. They can make some money from the transfer fee, and if they can turn you into a long-term customer, they make money from your future business. But they can’t make money if a cardholder transfers debt and then defaults on it. So they’re careful about whom they approve, and for how much.

That’s why consumers can’t assume that a balance transfer credit card will be a simple solution when they are deep in debt.

As discussed above, even after requesting a balance transfer, continue making payments on the old card until you see that the debt no longer appears on the account. The transfer process isn’t instantaneous: Your new card issuer has to send the money to the issuer of the old card, and it has to be directed to the proper account.

This is where some people get tripped up. They request the transfer, then just wait for the balance to appear on the new card. They stop paying attention to the old card and end up missing a payment, incurring a late fee or even damaging their credit. So keep an eye on the old account, and if there’s a payment due, pay at least the minimum.

Once you’ve moved debt onto a card with a 0% period in effect, it’s critical to make your payments on time every single month. If you’re late, the card issuer could cancel your 0% promotion, and you’ll be back to paying sky-high credit card interest rates on your debt.

Sometimes finances get tight, and you simply don’t have the means to aggressively pay down your credit card debt, even with a 0% period in effect. In those circumstances, moving debt to a balance transfer card and paying only the minimum for a few months can buy you some breathing room. You do what you have to do.

You don’t want it to become a habit, though. For one thing, you’re mostly treading water rather than getting ahead. The transfer fee (which usually gets tacked onto the balance you transfer) sets you back at the start, and the minimum monthly payments are fairly small — maybe 1% to 3% of the balance. For another, having debt parked at 0% can encourage you to view that debt as “taken care of” for now, which can in turn encourage more spending and more debt. Then the 0% period runs out and you rush to try to move the balance to another 0% card — playing hot potato with debt rather than getting rid of it.

NerdWallet's Credit Cards team selects the best balance transfer credit cards based on overall consumer value, as evidenced by star ratings, as well as their suitability for specific kinds of consumers. Factors in our evaluation include annual fees, balance transfer fees, the length of each card's 0% introductory APR period, ongoing APRs, credit-profile requirements, cardholders' access to credit scores, and other noteworthy features such as rewards or perks that give the card ongoing value beyond the promotional APR period. Learn how NerdWallet rates credit cards.