Best Credit Cards for Balance Transfer in 2012

Credit card balance transfer means transferring money from one credit card of one bank to the credit card of another issuer.

This is not just a marketing trick from the issuers; it is profitable for customers too. Many issuers offer 0% introductory APR for balance transfers.For example Citi Platinum card, Discover More card etc offer 18 months of 0% APR on balance you transfer from other cards, that means for 18 month you are not charged any interest, basically making it a 0% interest loan for one and a half-year.

This transaction is fast, it is convenient and most important thing is this is very safe mode of transferring funds. You can pay even bills by transferring balance via credit card.

Whenever you transfer funds from one credit card to another, You are charged a fee for the transaction. This fee varies from card to card. While ranking the balance transfer cards we didn’t put any significant weightage on cards offering introductory 0% APR.

If you are looking to payoff your debt in two years at the most, go for the cards which offer 0% APR for longest duration.

1. Citi Diamond Preferred Card – 0% intro APR for first 18 months
2. Citi Simplicity Card – 0% intro APR for first 18 months
3. Discover More Card – 0% intro APR for first 18 months
4. Citi Platinum Select Visa Card – 0% intro APR for first 18 months

But if you can’t payoff within that time frame you have to pay hefty APR once the introductory offer ends. We now rank the cards for the AP rate and other features that are available on them. Apply your own judgement.

Following is a list of best three credit cards for balance transfer available at the moment in 2012

Interestingly, they all look similar to each other!

Citi Platinum Select Master Card

This card is provided by city bank. Citi bank is one of the largest banks in world. And they provide world’s best credit card also.

• They offer excellent citi perks on this credit card including Id theft and fraud protection.
• Only 3% balance transfer fee.
• For first eighteen months they charge absolutely no interest.
• After 18 months they take tiered interest rate as per your credit score. 700+ score would get your APR as low as 7.99% as I am getting on this card now.
• Extracash reward program from Citi makes it one of the rare balance transfer cards which gives reward.

As part of one of the largest banks, Citi provides best service to customers with no annual fee. To apply for this card your credit history needs to be totally clean. Also they offer $30 statement credit.

PenFed Promise card

This card is provided by Pentagon Federal Credit Union. This card has some amazing offers and that is why this card stands on second position.

• This card has annual percentage rate is 9.99%. This is based on prime rate.
• This card has no annual fee, cash advance fee or balance transfer fee
• This card has introductory 7.49% annual percentage rate.
• This annual percentage rate is valid up to 24 months from date of card issuance.
• The best part of this card is that this card has no balance transfer fee.

This card is given to all people who fit in requirements of qualification. Mostly the qualification is related to being connected to US forces. If you do not have connection you can still apply for the card after paying a nominal $20 donation towards National Military Family Association.

In additions to that, you should have very good minimum credit history. Also you do not need to be existing customer of this bank.

AT&T universal saving Platinum Card

This card is provided by Citi bank. This card offers very cheap rates and has some very good offers.

• The annual percent rate is just 12.99% variable APR based on prime rate
• Balance transfer fee is 3 percent with minimum 5$.
• No interest charged for first 15 months on balance transfer amount
• Offers rewards of 1.5% if you spend more than $750 per month on this card. 1% if spending is between $250 and $750.
• A card with one of the lowest APR.

For getting this card you have to be at least 18 years old. Also should also not be an existing customer of Citi. This card requires excellent credit history, in 730 -850 range

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