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Tesco Bank has launched the most competitive 40-month balance transfer and money transfer credit card on the market. Money transfers are useful for those who want to borrow money on their credit card to pay directly into their bank account.
Tesco’s card charges the lowest fees for a card of this term – 2.69pc on balance transfers and 3.94pc on money transfers.
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Halifax is the only other provider to offer such a long 0pc term and it charges a balance transfer fee of 2.85pc. The supermarket bank says all successful applicants will get the full 40 months, whereas Halifax offers the full period only to 51pc of applicants. The rest are given a shorter term or pay a higher interest rate.
Borrowers who could afford to pay off their debts more quickly would benefit from a shorter 0pc card because they tend to charge lower fees.
Barclaycard’s 37-month credit card applies a 2.45pc fee to balance transfers and Virgin charges 1.99pc for balance transfers with its 36‑month card.
Borrowers happy to take the 0pc period down to 28 months could pay a balance transfer fee of 0.7pc with TSB’s Platinum credit card.
Andrew Hagger of MoneyComms, a research firm, said he wouldn’t be surprised if the new Tesco card sparked a flurry of competition.
“Halifax’s 40-month balance transfer card had been number one for a while and I expect it may come back with something new,” he said. “In fact, it is likely that more providers will react to the new card and introduce more competitive deals.”
Those who want to take advantage of Tesco’s market-leading card must apply before April 28.
However, it may be worth waiting to see what other cards become available over the next few weeks.
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