Best Credit Card to transfer current balance to.?

I currently have a credit card and will be unable to pay off the outstanding balance by the time my interest free 12 months ends this month.





Which bank in the UK offers the best option for me to transfer the balance over, either free or cheap, and then have an interest free card once the balance has been transferred?|||I don't know this for certain, but I doubt there are any banks that will allow you to transfer a balance and have it interest-free. Banks make money on credit cards primarily in two ways: (1) by charging a fee to the merchant (perhaps 2% of the amount charged) when something is bought using the card and (2) by charging interest and fees to the cardholder when the balance is not paid in full by the due date.





Banks are willing to do the 12-months interest free on new purchases as an incentive to get you to sign up for their card because they're still getting some income from the fees they charge the merchants AND (they won't say this but I think it's true) because they're hoping people will charge a lot while it's interest free and then won't be able to pay it off in time so they can make money off them when the interest rates kick in.





Banks allow you (in fact often encourage you) to transfer a balance to their card because they want the income from the (usually high) interest rates they charge.





If a bank allowed people to transfer a balance and didn't charge them interest, they are not going to make any money on that account (because they won't get merchant fees OR interest payments) and in fact it will cost them money because they are borrowing the money from somewhere (e.g. depositors in the bank) and paying at least some small amount of interest on it so if they get NO income from it they are losing money. I really can't imagine that any bank is going to be willing to do that.





I think your best approach at this point is to cut back your spending as much as you can in order to pay off as much of the balance as you can before the interest charges kick in and then keep paying as much as you possibly can until the balance is paid off. Maybe see if you can get an extra part-time job to make a little extra money to pay it off faster.





For the future, if you want to win at the no-interest for 12 months game, you need to be saving enough money during that time to be able to pay off the balance at the end of 12 months and have it deposited in a bank where you are making interest on it. If you use the card to run up balances you can't afford to pay off, you are playing the game the way the banks want you to and they are going to win.





If you don't have the self-discipline to save up the money, then you probably would be better off avoiding deals like that and just pay off the balance each month. It's tempting to buy a lot of stuff when you don't have to pay for it right away, but in the long run that's a serious personal finance mistake.