What Happened to No-Fee Balance Transfer Cards?

Back in the late 2010s, NerdWallet's advice to consumers in the market for a balance transfer credit card was to look for one with "triple zeroes" — a $0 annual fee, an introductory 0% APR period and a balance transfer fee of $0. Such cards were available from a number of major issuers as banks engaged in a short-lived balance transfer arms race.

Nowadays, however, "double zero" is probably the best you're going to be able to do. Any good balance transfer card will still have no annual fee and will still offer a year or more at zero interest. But with the exception of a relative handful of cards from small banks and credit unions, you're going to be paying a balance transfer fee. Those fees are typically 3% to 5% of the amount transferred.

The no-balance-transfer-fee credit card had its day in the sun. Or maybe it flew too close to the sun. Either way, it has mostly melted away into history.

The rise of no-fee balance transfers

Prior to 2017, the only "triple zero" credit card from a major issuer was the Chase Slate®, which had debuted in 2009. It had no annual fee and a $0 introductory balance transfer fee, as well as a 15-month 0% APR period.

The Chase Slate® launched in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, at a time when banks were pulling out all the stops to acquire new customers and bolster their hollowed balance sheets. Tactics included boosting sign-up bonuses and lengthening 0% APR periods. Chase took that trend a step further with its triple-zero balance transfer offer.

Other major issuers eventually tried the idea:

• In February 2017, Barclays added an introductory 0% APR period to the Barclaycard Ring® Mastercard®. That card already had no annual fee and didn't charge a transfer fee, but instead of a zero-percent period, it was offering a low ongoing APR of 8.5%. The addition of the intro APR period moved the Ring card into triple-zero territory. (The Ring card is no longer on the market.)

• In May 2017, the BankAmericard® credit card from Bank of America® began offering a $0 introductory balance transfer fee, to go with its $0 annual fee and introductory APR period. (This card is once again charging transfer fees.)

• In February 2018, American Express, which at the time did not have a dedicated balance transfer card, tried turning the no-annual-fee Amex EveryDay® Credit Card into one. It eliminated fees on transfers in the first 60 days and extended its intro APR period. (This card is no longer on the market.)

Why did credit cards offer no-fee transfers?

When a credit card issuer lets you transfer a balance and then pay it off without fees or interest, it's not making any money off the deal. So why did banks clamor to offer triple-zero cards? It was less about what happened during the introductory APR period and everything about what came after it. Specifically:

• Future interest. Interest is the single biggest source of revenue in the credit cards industry, accounting for more than merchant transaction fees and cardholder fees combined, according to federal data. If a transferred balance lingers past the end of the 0% period, it starts accruing interest. And if the consumer continues using the card for purchases after the intro period ends, that can mean additional interest.

• Customer loyalty. When a bank entices someone to transfer a balance from a competitor's card to one of its own, that bank has effectively stolen a customer from that competitor. Card issuers hope that the banking relationship continues after the balance transfer offer expires, with the consumer opening other cards, taking out loans, or opening deposit or investment accounts.

Triple-zero cards were effectively a gamble by card issuers that the long-term value generated by those newly acquired customers would more than make up for the lost revenue from transfer fees. The fact that the wave of triple-zero cards went out almost as quickly as it came in suggests that this hypothesis was not borne out.

The decline of no-fee balance transfers

Once these offers had been on the market long enough to evaluate whether they converted balance-transfer customers into long-term customers, some issuers began pulling the plug.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic came along in 2020. As the pandemic took hold on the American economy — leading to shutdowns and layoffs that left millions struggling to pay their debts — credit card issuers moved aggressively to reduce risk. Cards that had been accepting balance transfers quit doing so; even those that still had balance transfer offers made them less generous.

What happened to the cards discussed above:

• Barclays discontinued the introductory 0% APR period on the Barclaycard Ring® Mastercard® in February 2018. The card still had no annual fee and no transfer fee, but transfers began accruing interest at an APR of 10.74%. Barclays switched things up again five months later, in July 2018, when it gave cardholders a choice. For balance transfers in the first 45 days, you'd get a 12-month 0% period, but you'd have to pay a transfer fee of 3%. For transfers after 45 days, there would be no fee but also no 0% period. In other words, you could have a 0% APR or a 0% transfer fee, but not both. Barclays tinkered with the terms further before discontinuing the card entirely in 2019.

• Bank of America® started by limiting access to the no-balance-transfer-fee offer on the BankAmericard® credit card. Starting in May 2018, the only way to get that offer was to apply directly through Bank of America®. Those who applied through NerdWallet and other channels were charged a transfer fee. Later, the issuer discontinued the no-transfer-fee option entirely.

• American Express pulled back the balance transfer benefits of the Amex EveryDay® Credit Card in 2020, not long after NerdWallet had chosen it as best credit card for balance transfers in our 2020 Best-Of Awards. It lived on as a standard rewards credit card before being discontinued in 2024.

• Chase quit offering the Chase Slate® in 2020 during the early stages of the pandemic. A year later, the issuer introduced a replacement, the Chase Slate Edge℠, which had no annual fee and an intro APR period, but which charged a balance transfer fee. Double zeroes.

When balance transfer offers started coming back in 2021, they came with fees, and the era of triple-zero no-balance-tranfer-fee cards from major issuers was over.

What do you do now?

As mentioned above, you can still find credit cards without balance transfer fees, but you’ll have to look to smaller banks and credit unions. Even then, you’ll have a harder time finding a card with both a $0 transfer fee and a 0% APR period. You might get a lower introductory rate — say, 4.99% — but not zero.

Even if you can find a triple-zero card, you may still run into roadblocks. You might have to join a credit union to qualify (and you might not even be eligible to join). You might have to apply in person at a branch. You might have to be an existing customer.

Nowadays, institutions that offer fee-free transfers do so in order to attract customers with whom they can build a relationship. That means someone who lives in their service area and who might come back to open a savings account or apply for a home loan, not someone on the other side of the country who will park debt for a while and then move on.

So for most people, the best balance transfer option is going to be a card that charges a transfer fee. When you're looking to dig out of debt, the prospect of paying an additional 3% to 5% isn't terribly appetizing — but paying a balance transfer fee can still be worth it.

A 3% fee on a $5,000 transfer, for example, comes out to $150. But a year’s worth of interest on a $5,000 balance on a typical credit card can easily top $1,000. Even with a 5% fee, the potential cost savings are substantial. The fee takes a bite, but you can still come out hundreds of dollars ahead. Double zeroes aren't as good as triple zeroes, but they're better than zero zeroes when what matters most is getting your credit card debt to zero.