Balance Transfer Calculator
A 0% transfer isn't free — there's a fee going in and a (usually nastier) rate waiting when the promo ends. This runs both paths month by month and tells you which one wins at your payment.
Transfer vs stay
Savings from transferring
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Stay: total interest
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Transfer: interest + fee
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Stay: payoff time
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Transfer: payoff time
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The math the offer glosses over
The fee hits immediately: transfer $8,000 at 3% and you owe $8,240 before you've saved a cent. Then the clock matters — every dollar still on the card when the promo ends starts accruing at the post-promo APR, which typically reverts to 25–29%, often higher than the card you escaped. The transfer wins when your payment is big enough to clear most of the balance inside the window. It loses when the fee plus the leftover-at-a-worse-rate outweighs the interest holiday.
The payment that makes it a clean win
The number to anchor on: transferred balance ÷ promo months. Pay that every month and you exit the promo at exactly zero — total cost of the whole affair is just the fee. This calculator shows that target payment for your inputs; if it's out of reach, compare honestly whether the partial win still beats staying put.
Two traps beyond the math
First: new purchases on a transfer card usually accrue interest at the full rate immediately — the 0% applies to the transferred balance only, so don't spend on it. Second: the psychological one — a freshly-zeroed old card has a way of filling back up. A transfer only helps if total debt goes down; the snowball/avalanche planner is the tool for that bigger picture.