Balance transfer deals were primarily developed for new cardholders. These deals require the debt to be shifted within a couple of months of opening the card account. Yet there are a few existing customer balance transfer deals which are very useful for more efficiently using credit you already have.

The very important thing is not to get confused while cutting the interest with paying less each month, as that’s determined by the minimum repayments. This depends on a number of factors: how much debt you’ve got, how quickly you can repay it, your credit score, and how on-the-ball you are financially.

If you've regularly used cards to balance transfer in the past, it's likely you'll have held cards from many of the top pick providers. Each has its own rules, but many card providers will automatically reject you if you already have one of its products, or have in the past twelve to eighteen months. To improve your chances of getting the best deal, cancel any cards that you have open but don't need.

For getting the cheapest long time deal simply get the card, move your debts, then put the card away and pay it off, knowing it’s cheap. Most people will be better off going for a long term cheap stable relationship’ rather than trying to be a credit card tart; as it only takes a few mistakes to make tarting very costly.
The gold standard for long term cards is a ‘life-of-balance' transfer deal; here the cheap rate lasts until the debt you've shifted is repaid in full.

The most important warning of balance transfer deals. There’s a hidden sting with these cards; if you spend on them, it’s at a high interest rate and can’t be repaid until all the cheap debt has been. They may try and tempt you with cashback or short term 0% deals on any spending – ignore it. The rule is simple – never spend on these cards, if you do all the benefit will be lost.