Top 10 balance transfer credit cards

Credit cards can be painfully expensive. Right now, the average interest rate on a UK credit card is 17.3%, way ahead of the base rate at 0.5%.

So if you don't pay your monthly credit card bill in full, you'll end up at borrowing money at a very high rate.

The solution is a 0% balance transfer card. If you've got debt on your credit card, you can transfer it to a 0% card and you won't have to pay any interest on the debt for up to 23 months. That means all your monthly payments will go towards paying off your debt rather than interest payments.

The only downside to these cards is that you have to pay a fee when you make the transfer - normally around the 3% mark.

Still, they're great tools overall, so let's start by looking at the top three cards available now (if none of these are quite right for you, we'll get to the rest later).

Three best cards

The Barclaycard 22-month card is very attractive because the 0% period is so long. That gives you more time to clear your debt without having to pay any interest. What's more, the 2.9% fee is relatively low for a card with such a long 0% period.

However, if you think you won't need as long as 22 months to pay off your debt, the Barclaycard Low Fee Platinum Visa could be your best bet. That's because the balance transfer is a lot lower at 1.6% and the balance transfer period is still reasonably long at 16 months.

The final card in the top three is the Halifax All-in-One MasterCard. In some ways, it's a lot less attractive than the Barclaycards. That's because the 15-month balance transfer period is shorter than for both Barclaycards while the balance transfer fee is higher at 3%.

The big plus point for the Halifax card is that it has a long 0% period for purchases. Let's say, you fancied an expensive holiday that cost £1,000. If you got a Halifax card and then paid for the holiday using that card, you wouldn't have to pay any interest on the resulting debt for 15 months. By contrast, the two Barclaycards only offer three-month 0% periods for purchases.

Be careful, however, the 0% period for purchases will begin when you take out the Halifax card, not when you buy the holiday.

• Compare 0% balance transfer credit cards

Seven more great cards
Sadly the top three cards won't be an option for everyone. If your existing credit card debt is on a Barclaycard, you can't transfer it to another Barclaycard, so you'll need to look at another balance transfer option.

And the Halifax card is only your best alternative if you also want a long 0% on purchase period as well.

Let's look at the next seven best cards:

At the top of the table, you'll see that the HSBC Visa card has a 23-month 0% period, longer than any other card. We've not put the card in the top three for two reasons. Firstly, the card is only available to HSBC current account customers, and secondly, the balance transfer fee is on the high side at 3.3%.

The 3.5% fee for the Halifax MasterCard is also rather high at 3.5%. So if you can't get a Barclaycard, your best bet is probably the Natwest Platinum Mastercard. At 3.2%, the fee is a bit lower than for HSBC and Halifax, and you get the added bonus of a six-month 0% period for purchases.

So there you have it, 10 cracking cards that will help you get on top of your debt.

• Compare 0% balance transfer credit cards
• Compare 0% new purchase credit cards
• Check your credit report for any errors