Capital One has two long term balance transfer credit cards on the market. So which one works out cheapest?
The
Capital One Bank Low Rate BT MasterCard offers a fixed rate of 5.5% on transfers until January 2011, reverting to a typical APR of 15.9%. It also comes with a 1.7% balance transfer fee.
The
Capital One Bank Low Rate Credit Card MasterCard comes with a slightly higher rate of 8.5% fixed until August 2012, but charges no fee whatsoever.
Get a low rate credit card hereSo which is cheaper for balance transfers?To calculate which credit card works out cheapest for balance transfers, we compared the total cost of paying off a £4,000 debt over a number of years.
If you can clear the debt in just one year, then the
Capital One Bank Low Rate Credit Card MasterCard actually works out cheaper despite having a higher interest rate, as the table below shows. This is because it charges no transfer fee.
It is also the cheapest over four years, purely because the low rate offer on balance transfers lasts 18 months longer.
However, the
Capital One Bank Low Rate BT MasterCard is comfortably the cheaper option over two and three years, as the low 5.5% APR starts paying dividends.
| Paid off after 1yr | 2yrs | 3yrs
| 4yrs |
| Capital One Bank Low Rate BT MasterCard | £4,190 | £4,305 | £4,492 | £4,769 |
| Capital One Bank Low Rate Credit Card MasterCard | £4,187 | £4,364 | £4,546 | £4,732 |
Get a low rate credit card here
