Done properly, the cheapest borrowing most households can get
A balance transfer moves what you owe on one card to another charging 0% for a fixed period. You pay a fee up front, usually a percentage of the amount moved, and then nothing in interest until the offer ends. Done carelessly it moves the problem twenty months into the future and adds a fee.
The market in September 2026
The average 0% balance transfer term was 605 days, about 20 months, with an average fee of 2.48%. The longest offer was TSB Platinum at up to 38 months with a 3.49% fee, reverting to 24.9% APR variable. HSBC, Virgin Money and Tesco Bank all offered 36 months at fees between 3.09% and 3.45%. The longest fee-free transfers were Barclaycard at 13 months, Virgin Money and Santander at 12, NatWest and RBS at 11. Offers change month to month and the longest one is rarely the same card twice running.
Look at the effective cost
A 38-month 0% card with a 3.49% fee on £10,000 costs £349 up front. Over the full term that is about 1.1% a year. There is no mortgage, no personal loan and no overdraft in the UK charging 1.1%. But that only holds if the balance is actually cleared before the 38 months end. If it is not, the leftover reverts to 24.9%.
When the fee eats it
The fee is a percentage of the balance, paid up front. The benefit is the interest you avoid. So the shorter the period you actually need, the worse the fee looks. On £3,000 you could clear in 13 months, a fee-free 13-month card costs nothing at all, while a 38-month card with a 3.49% fee costs £105 for time you do not need. Match the length of the offer to the time you need.
What a card really costs you now
Two figures, both correct. The Moneyfacts average advertised purchase APR hit 36.0% in June 2026, a record on records going back to 2006 — but that includes annual card fees and is dragged up by subprime cards. The Bank of England's effective rate across all card balances was 21.45% in July 2026, which includes balances sitting on 0% deals. A reader with a decent credit file carrying a balance on a mainstream card is typically paying somewhere in the mid-20s.
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