How do balance transfers work?
It’s important to understand balance transfer limits and costs.
Why do a balance transfer?
Here are the benefits and some important points to consider.
Benefits
- Moving multiple balances to a single card can simplify things. You could have one balance to track and one monthly payment.
- If you transfer your borrowing to a card with a low interest rate, you could cut your monthly interest payments.
- A lower interest rate means you could pay off what you owe sooner and pay less interest overall.
Remember to keep making all your regular card payments until your balance transfer has been confirmed by both credit card providers.
Things to consider
- If you have a promotional rate, once the promotional period ends, any remaining balance reverts to the standard rate.
- To keep your promotional rate, you’ll need to make at least your minimum monthly payments on time.
- If you pay late or miss a payment, you may face fees. You could also lose any promotional offers and damage your credit score.
- If you also use your card for everyday spending, you’ll be charged interest on your purchases unless you pay off your monthly statement balance in full and on time every month. That includes the value of any balance transfers, unless a 0% promotional rate for purchases applies.
- If you only make the minimum payments each month, it will take you longer to repay and you may pay more in interest overall.
How to do a balance transfer
Find out what you need to move a balance to your Lloyds credit card.
Your balance transfer options
See if you have any balance transfer offers available.
Not got a Lloyds balance transfer credit card?
Let’s look at the details
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We’ve simplified this example. It uses a promotional 0% balance transfer rate that lasts for 12 months.
- You have balances of £2,000 on your credit cards, with an annual interest rate of 20%.
- You have another card with a 0% promotional offer for 12 months and a 3% balance transfer fee.
- You transfer your balances across to this credit card with a promotional offer. You now owe a total of £2,060, including the fee.
- You pay £206 on time each month for 10 months. If you have no other spending, you can clear your credit balance without paying interest.
- The promotional rate expires after 12 months. If you haven’t repaid the full balance, any remaining amount reverts to your standard balance transfer rate.
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If we approve your balance transfer, it should arrive on the next working day. You can’t cancel a balance transfer and we can’t refund any fees.
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Before you apply for a new offer, it’s always worth checking which one you’ll be paying off first. When you make a payment, we’ll pay off what you owe in this order:
- The balances on your latest statement with the highest interest rate will be paid off first. This includes any promotional interest rates.
- For any balances with a promotional offer on the same interest rate, we’ll use your payments towards the offer ending first.
Find out more about balances and what your payments go towards.
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On your PDF or paper statement, there’s a breakdown of your balance and the interest rates that apply.
If you have a balance transfer promotional or introductory interest rate, you’ll find the expiry dates in there. -
If you need to increase your credit limit to transfer any balances, the simplest way to apply for this is online. Or you can give us a call.
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