Just nine 0% credit cards on market

Just nine credit card firms are offering 0% balance transfer deals – compared with 200 deals a year ago.

Research by Fool.co.uk shows there are now only 24 genuine 0% balance transfer cards on the market – lasting at least 10 months – from nine companies.

And as credit card companies do not allow consumers to switch to better deals if they already have a card with them – the choice for customers is limited.

The longest 0% deal now lasts for 15 months – with fees ranging from 2.5 per cent to three per cent.

Fool highlights Abbey and Royal Bank of Scotland credit cards as the pick of the credit card offers – with a 2.5 per cent fee and 0% for 13 months.

David Kuo, head of personal finance at Fool, said: "One area of lending that is still going strong is the 0% balance-transfer credit card. There are plenty of deals available, though not all deals are always what they appear to be.

"Consumers who intend to use 0% balance-transfer cards need to be aware that while there may be a plethora of cards, there are effectively only nine genuine cards that will do what they say on the tin.

"As always there are no free lunches in finance, and what appear to be free lunches normally come with strings attached."

He explained a three per cent transfer fee in fact produces a annual interest rate of 5.6 per cent AER, while for a six month deal it is the equivalent of 10.7 per cent AER.

Fool.co.uk nine credit card 0% balance transfer credit cards

	Card provider	Fee	Months
Abbey	Abbey	2.5%	13
Bank of Ireland	Post Office	2.9%	12
Barclaycard	Barclaycard	2.9%	14
Citi	Citi/bmibaby	3%	12
Egg	Egg	3%	12
HBOS	Halifax/Bank of Scotland	3%	13
MBNA	Virgin	2.98%	15
Nationwide	Nationwide	2.5%	10
Royal Bank of Scotland	NatWest/RBS	2.5%	13