--- title: "Balance transfers and your credit score" description: "Balance transfers can affect your score, but usually only temporarily. Keep up your minimum payments and your score should improve over time." canonical: "https://totalcreditcheck.co.uk/help-centre/articles/balance-transfers-and-your-credit-score/" topic: "Credit cards" published: 2026-04-29 updated: 2026-04-29 author: "Harry Austin" publisher: "Total Credit Check (Piomes Ltd)" --- # Balance transfers and your credit score Moving debt to a 0% card costs you a small dip up front and can save you years of repayments. Here's the trade-off in full. **The short version:** balance transfers can affect your score, but usually only temporarily. Keep up your minimum payments and your score should improve over time. Yes, they can affect your score — but not always negatively. Expect a small, temporary dip at first, then over time a transfer can lower your credit utilisation and support better repayment habits. Paying on time matters most for your score, but it isn't the only factor. How you use credit overall plays a part, and that includes balance transfers. ## What a balance transfer is A balance transfer moves existing credit card debt to another card, usually at a lower or 0% interest rate. You'll find options on comparison sites and through your online bank. The aim is to reduce interest. If you're only meeting minimum payments, interest means you're barely denting the actual debt. Offers usually include a promotional period of **0% interest for 12 to 24 months**, and typically carry a **balance transfer fee of 1–3%** of the amount transferred. Over that 12 to 24 months, paying down the balance without interest charges gives you genuine time to make progress. For context: the average UK credit card APR is **36.36%** (Finder.com). It's easy to see why clearing a balance is hard unless you're paying more than the minimum. There's more on how rates work in [APR on credit cards explained](https://totalcreditcheck.co.uk/help-centre/articles/apr-on-credit-cards-explained/), and on [how much of your limit to use](https://totalcreditcheck.co.uk/help-centre/articles/understanding-your-credit-limit/). ## How they work in the UK The process is usually straightforward. You apply for a new card following a balance transfer offer, and nominate an existing card with an outstanding balance. Here's where the score question comes in: **lenders perform a hard search** of your credit report before approving the transfer. You're effectively taking out a new credit card, so they want to know how likely you are to repay. There's more on this in [checking your credit score step by step](https://totalcreditcheck.co.uk/help-centre/articles/checking-your-credit-score-step-by-step/). If approved, the new provider pays off your old balance and the debt moves across on new terms. That 0% period — 12 months, or better, 24 — is when you can actually start clearing it. Minimum monthly payments are still required, and will likely be similar to what you were paying before. **Missing payments can cause the lender to cancel your promotional rate**, which puts you back to square one. FCA-regulated lenders are required to be transparent about fees and terms, so the details will be there. ## Do they affect your score? Yes, but the dip should be slight, and it comes from the hard search. Making your minimum payments on time then moves your score in the right direction. **Credit utilisation** is the percentage of available credit you're using. Three credit cards totalling £4,000 with £3,600 used puts you at 90% utilisation. Using a lot of your available credit can hurt your score, because lenders read high utilisation as reliance on credit — suggesting you might struggle to repay more. Two other effects worth knowing: - **Opening a new account reduces your average credit age**, which can affect your score. - **Shutting the old card cuts your available credit**, which pushes your utilisation percentage up. The debt hasn't grown, but the proportion has — and the proportion is what gets measured. ## Short term vs long term **Short-term effects:** - A temporary dip after the hard search - A new account lowering your average credit history length **Long-term effects are positive if you:** - Reduce overall debt - Monitor your credit utilisation - Make consistent, on-time payments **And negative if you:** - Miss payments or exceed limits ## When a transfer could improve your score A transfer helps most where it cuts high interest. You might go from a £40 minimum payment against £48 of monthly interest, to paying £40 a month that actually reduces the debt. Approved for a 24-month interest-free period and paying £40 without fail, you'd clear **£960**. By contrast, [The Money Charity](https://themoneycharity.org.uk/money-statistics/june-2024/) calculates that paying only the minimum at average UK credit card rates could take **26 years and 10 months** to clear. **Debt consolidation** is another option — transferring multiple debts into one manageable payment at 0% for a set period. Useful if you're juggling several debts, though it also brings a temporary dip from the hard search. Whether you transfer one debt or several, the aim is to clear the balance **before the 0% period ends**. ## The key things to remember - Expect a small, temporary dip from the hard search. - Promotional periods typically run 12–24 months at 0%. - Transfer fees are usually 1–3% of the amount moved. - The average UK credit card APR is 36.36%. - Missing a payment can cancel your promotional rate entirely. - New accounts lower your average credit age; closing old ones raises utilisation. - Paying only the minimum at average rates could take nearly 27 years. - Aim to clear the balance before the 0% period ends.