Balance Transfer Calculator
↻ Updated 2026See whether a 0% balance-transfer offer really saves money once the transfer fee and the go-to APR after the intro period are counted.
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Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is sent to us.How this works
How to read a 0% transfer against its fee
The fee is the certain cost and the intro window is the uncertain benefit, so the question is only ever whether you finish before the music stops. At the defaults you don't quite — $1,940 is still outstanding when the 0% ends — and the transfer still wins by $2,228.15, because six months at 24.9% is much cheaper than thirty-one months at 22.9%.
How a transfer's true cost is worked out, fee included
The tool prices two paths at the same monthly payment and compares total cost of borrowing. Staying put is a plain fixed-payment payoff at your current APR. Transferring is the same simulation with two changes: the fee is added to the balance on day one, and the rate switches from the intro APR to the go-to APR the month after the intro period ends.
Total cost is interest plus the fee. Counting the fee once, as a fee, is correct even though it's also repaid as principal — you borrowed $8,000 and will repay $8,240 plus interest, so charging the $240 again inside the interest figure would double count it. That's why the transfer path shows $142.41 of interest but $382.41 of cost.
fee = balance × fee % transfer start = balance + fee ← you finance the fee repeat each month until balance = 0: APR = intro APR while month ≤ intro months = go-to APR thereafter interest = balance × (APR ÷ 12) balance = balance − (payment − interest) transfer cost = interest paid + fee stay cost = interest at the current APR, same payment saving = stay cost − transfer cost
- fee %
- The transfer fee, as a percentage of the amount moved — 3–5% is the standard US range; it's charged once, up front, and added to the new balance
- intro APR
- The promotional rate on the new card — 0% on most transfer offers — while it holds, every dollar you pay is principal
- intro months
- How long the promotional rate lasts — the deadline the whole decision turns on; offers commonly run 12–21 months
- go-to APR
- The rate the balance reverts to when the intro period ends — often higher than the card you left — 24.9% against a current 22.9% in the defaults here
- payment
- The fixed monthly amount, applied to both paths — held identical across the two scenarios so the comparison isolates the rate and fee
One counterintuitive effect is worth pre-empting. Raise the payment and the reported saving falls — from $2,228.15 at $350 a month to $1,503.80 at $475 — which looks like paying more makes the transfer worse. It doesn't. Both paths get cheaper when you pay more; staying put just improves faster, because it had more interest to lose. The transfer's own cost drops from $382.41 to $240 over that same change. The saving figure measures the gap between two options, not the cost of the one you'd pick.
Note also that the fee is a fixed percentage while the interest avoided scales with time — so a 3% fee is a poor trade on a balance you'd clear in three months anyway, and trivial on one that would take three years. The credit card payoff calculator gives you the do-nothing baseline in one number.
Worked examples
Example: $8,000 moved to 0% for 18 months with a 3% fee
The calculator's defaults. You're on a 22.9% card paying $350 a month, and you move the balance to an offer of 0% for 18 months with a 3% fee and a 24.9% go-to rate.
| Transfer fee3% of $8,000, added to the balance | $240.00 |
| Starting balanceyou finance the fee | $8,240.00 |
| Balance when the 0% ends$8,240 − 18 × $350 | $1,940.00 |
| Interest on the tail6 months at 24.9% on a shrinking $1,940 | $142.41 |
| Transfer — total cost$142.41 interest + $240 fee | $382.41 |
| Stay put — total cost31 months at 22.9% | $2,610.56 |
| Savingand 7 months sooner | $2,228.15 |
The transfer wins by $2,228.15 even though it doesn't clear inside the window. Eighteen months of 0% did the work: $6,300 of payments went entirely to principal instead of being taxed at 1.9% a month. The $1,940 tail at the higher 24.9% go-to rate costs only $142.41 because it's small and it's gone in six months. A failure to finish on time is not the disaster the offers imply — what matters is how much is left when the clock runs out.
Example: the same offer, paying $475 a month
Raise the payment to $475 — the first step on the slider that clears $8,240 within eighteen months. Everything else is unchanged.
| Payoff time18 months — exactly inside the intro window | 1 yr 6 mo |
| Interest paidno month ever runs at the go-to rate | $0.00 |
| Transfer — total costthe fee, and nothing else | $240.00 |
| Stay put — total cost21 months at 22.9%, same payment | $1,743.80 |
| Savinglower than at $350 — see below | $1,503.80 |
| Effective cost of the debtonce, rather than 22.9% a year | 3% of $8,000 |
This is the clean version: $8,000 of card debt retired for $240 and not a cent of interest. The reported saving is smaller than the $350 case only because staying put also got cheaper at the higher payment — the transfer's own cost fell from $382.41 to $240. Clearing the balance inside the window converts a 22.9% APR into a one-time 3% charge, which is the entire reason these offers exist.
Frequently asked questions
Is a balance transfer worth it?
It's worth it when the interest you'd otherwise pay exceeds the fee, and this page computes both sides rather than asserting a rule. At the defaults the trade is $240 against $2,610.56 — not close. The fee is fixed at a percentage of the balance, while the interest you avoid grows with how long you'd have carried it, so the longer your realistic payoff, the better the trade.
The case where it fails is a balance you'd clear quickly anyway: a 3% fee to dodge two or three months of interest is a bad price. It also fails if you keep spending on the old card, which is the outcome the arithmetic can't see. Set the fee slider to your real offer and the payment to what you'll actually send.
What happens if I don't pay off a balance transfer before the 0% ends?
The remaining balance starts accruing at the go-to APR from that month forward. That's all — it's the ordinary outcome, and the defaults here model it: $1,940 survives the window and costs $142.41 over six months, leaving the transfer $2,228.15 ahead anyway.
The thing to check on your own offer is whether it's a true 0% promotional rate or a deferred interest promotion. Deferred interest — common on store cards and retail financing, rare on mainstream balance transfer offers — retroactively charges you all the interest from the original transfer date if any balance remains at the end. That is a genuinely different product, and this calculator does not model it. The distinction is in the offer's terms, and it's worth reading for that word alone.
Does a balance transfer hurt your credit score?
Modestly and temporarily, if you open a new card for it. The application is a hard inquiry, and the new account lowers the average age of your accounts. Neither is large.
The offsetting effect usually dominates: a new card raises your total available credit while your balances stay the same, which lowers overall utilisation — around 30% of a FICO score. Leaving the old card open at a zero balance helps that arithmetic; closing it undoes it. The pattern that does real damage is repeatedly opening cards to roll the same balance from one promo to the next.
How does a balance transfer fee work?
It's charged once, as a percentage of the amount you move — typically 3% to 5%, often with a small dollar minimum — and it's added to your new balance rather than billed to you separately. Transfer $8,000 at 3% and you owe $8,240 on the new card from day one. That's exactly what the calculator does.
Two consequences follow. You're financing the fee, so it sits at the intro rate along with everything else and costs you nothing extra while the 0% holds. And you need enough credit limit on the new card for the balance plus the fee — a limit of exactly $8,000 won't fit an $8,000 transfer.
Should I do a balance transfer or a debt consolidation loan?
They solve different shapes of problem. A transfer is the cheaper instrument if you'll clear the balance inside the intro window — 0% beats any loan rate, and the fee is the whole cost, as the second example shows. A fixed-rate loan wins on larger balances and longer horizons, because it gives you a rate that doesn't expire and a payment that ends on a known date.
The dividing line is roughly whether your balance divided by your realistic monthly payment fits inside the promotional period. $8,240 at $475 a month fits in eighteen months; $25,000 at $475 does not, and no transfer offer runs long enough to cover it. Price the alternative with the personal loan calculator.
What this transfer model doesn't know about your offer
The arithmetic is right; the offer terms it assumes are the generic ones. Five places where real cards differ.
- No fee cap and no transfer limit — The fee here is a flat percentage of whatever you enter. Real offers may cap the fee, impose a dollar minimum, or — more importantly — cap the transferable amount at your approved credit limit. You cannot transfer a balance larger than the card will hold, and the fee has to fit inside the limit too.
- Deferred interest isn't modelled — The go-to APR applies only to what's left, from the month the intro ends. A deferred interest promotion instead charges all the interest back to day one if any balance remains. If your offer uses deferred interest, this page materially understates the risk of finishing late.
- Losing the promo rate isn't modelled — Many offers terminate the intro APR on a late payment, repricing the balance immediately. The simulation assumes eighteen clean months. It also assumes the transfer completes promptly — it can take a week or two, during which the old card still accrues.
- No new spending on either card — Both balances only fall. Purchases on a transfer card are often outside the promotion and sit at a separate purchase APR, and payment allocation rules make paying down the promotional balance while carrying purchases less clean than it sounds.
- It assumes you're approved, at these terms — Intro length, fee and go-to APR are all offered on the basis of credit, and the calculator will happily price an offer nobody has made you. Enter terms you've been quoted, not the best ones advertised.
- ·Standard loan amortization formulas
Rates, brackets and limits here are checked against primary sources. If a number still looks off, email support@realmoneyiq.com and we'll review and fix it.
RealMoneyIQ provides free educational calculators, not financial, tax, investment or legal advice. Results are estimates based on the assumptions you enter and publicly published rates; your actual outcome will differ. Always confirm decisions with a licensed professional who knows your full situation.