Balance transfer without a new credit card

The biggest lure of a new credit card for those who already have one is the balance transfer you get with it, but did you know that you can also get balance transfer deals on cards you already have?
If you're unable to get a new card or would rather not add another card to your collection, this is the option for you.

Card issuers make their profit by charging interest on the balance you have on your credit card, so it makes sense that they'd want you to move your balance from other credit cards to the one you have with them. To get you to move your balance, they're willing to offer you a reduced interest or even 0% interest for a period of time.

How to get it
Often the card issuer will write to you informing you of an available offer, but you can also take the initiative; call and tell them you're considering transferring balance from another card and ask whether they have any balance transfer offers. If you have been a good customer, i.e. always paying on time, you will most likely get an offer.

You should carefully evaluate any offers you get because what seems like a good deal may turn out to be the costlier option down the line:

Watch out for term; a 6 months deal is good if you have a relatively small amount to transfer and you can pay off a significant portion of it in that time. It may turn out to be a bad deal if you can only meet the minimum payment and the post-offer interest rate is higher than what you were paying on your old card.

Also keep in mind that there's a one-off balance transfer fee that is charged on your account, this is normally a percentage of the amount you're transferring (e.g. 3%).

Advantages

1. Save on interest without applying for a new card
The main attraction of a balance transfer is that you will save money during the period of time that the card issuer is willing to waive or reduce interest charges. Doing it on your existing card has the added bonus that you don't have to go through the application process again.

2. You get to consolidate
For people with busy lives, it can be hard to remember the various dates on which to make a payment on each of your credit cards, and missing payments can damage your credit history. Moving your debt to fewer cards can be an added bonus in the sense that you'll have fewer dates to keep track of.

Disadvantages

1. New cards offer better deals
In most cases new customers get better deals than those wishing to transfer balance onto existing cards, this is probably because card issuers realise a bigger incentive is needed to get customers to switch credit card issuer. If you can qualify for one, a new card might be the better option for balance transfer.

2. Gets ahead of the queue
In an ideal world, one would prefer to pay off the debt that costs the most first, but transferring balance onto a card with existing debt has a disadvantage in that most credit card issuers will put the new debt ahead of the old debt; what this means is, while you're paying of the new debt which has little or no interest charges, the old debt remains in the background costing you full interest charges.