Your credit card
Compare moving a card balance to a 0% balance transfer, clearing it with a personal loan, and leaving it where it is: what each costs, and when you’d be clear.
Results update as you type
Your results
| Way | Each month | Clear in | Fees and interest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staying putat 24.9% APR | £150 | 2 years 2 months | £793 |
| Balance transfer12 months at 0%, 3% fee | £150 | 1 year 10 months | £220 |
| Personal loan14.9% APR | £144.00 | 2 years | £456 |
The transfer works out cheapest because you’d clear most of it before the 0% ends. It only stays that way if you keep paying: whatever’s left when the 0% ends is charged 24.9% APR.
Other loan lengths
| Loan length | Each month | Fees and interest | Against the transfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | £269.32 | £232 | £12 more |
| 2 years (yours) | £144.00 | £456 | £236 more |
| 3 years | £102.49 | £690 | £470 more |
| 4 years | £81.94 | £933 | £713 more |
| 5 years | £69.76 | £1,185 | £966 more |
At the same loan APR and fee. A longer loan costs less each month but more in all.
Using this calculator
Enter the balance on your card, its interest rate and what you can pay each month, then the deal you’re looking at for a balance transfer and the loan you’d take instead. The results show what each way costs in fees and interest, and when you’d be clear.
- A transfer is cheapest when you clear most of it before the 0% ends. What’s left then is charged the new card’s standard rate.
- A loan’s payment and end date are fixed, which some people find easier to stick to, and its rate doesn’t jump.
- Whether you’re accepted, and the rate you’re offered, depends on your credit record. The figures assume you’re offered the deals entered.
- The figures assume nothing new goes on any card, and that the rates stay the same.
For when each one makes sense, and what to check before applying, read balance transfer or personal loan?
How the figures are worked out
Card interest is charged once a month, at the monthly rate behind the APR: 1.87% a month at 24.9% APR. Staying put, your payment comes off each month after the interest. Moving it, the fee is added to the balance, nothing is charged in the 0% months, and the new card’s rate applies after that. The loan’s monthly payment is the one that clears the balance over its length at the monthly rate behind its APR, rounded up to the penny; the last payment is whatever is left. An arrangement fee is added to what the loan costs. Real statements differ by a few pence, because lenders count the exact days in each period. New spending and other fees aren’t included. If you enter a yearly rate (p.a.) instead of an APR, interest each month is that rate divided by 12, which is the same as using the APR behind it (22.44% p.a. is 24.9% APR).