Possible to use balance transfers to avoid interest with major credit cards?
In theory, yes. In practice: So it can be gamed, but the odds are not on your side :) I have done this for years and have been quite successful at it. Two reason I even need to do this - desire to pay for engagement ring and pay for 150 person wedding without using my nest-egg/savings.  You need to keep a document that details when the free APRs run out, and you need to setup automatic payments of the minimum balance from your checking account so you ensure you do not miss a payment.  You need to understand when you are going to need to make big purchases of homes/apartments/cars so that you can ensure you aren't doing this right before your credit score is being checked (Need to leave 12 months without opening new accounts before doing this).  I have been able to finance about $60,000 worth of unsecured debt paying between 3-5% interest per year. We have an unsecured credit line with Citibank that charges 14% and is capped at $10,000, and Discover Personal Loans charge around 14% as well (in pre-paid interest!).  I would say, all things considering, that this is a great deal if you don't have a secured line of credit with a low interest rate.  It is something, however, that if you aren't diligent can get away from you. From my experience I would rather pay a small amount of interest while allowing my savings and retirement to grow interest (hopefully greater than 3-5%) than pay the huge expense and start from zero. But if you miss a single payment on a 0 APR balance transfer they charge you all back interest concessions plus charge you a penalty rate.  Like many of the other posts, you need discipline to make this work. IMO, it's a good deal. Pre-paying 3% interest is better than accruing it at 1-2% per month. The other nice thing about it is that all of your payments hit the principal. Sure of course you can do balance transfers like this but you are way late to the party and it has gotten to be pretty challenging finding new cards to transfer balances to. Before the current financial crisis in the US you could get enormous amounts of credit (2-5 times a person's annual income) and transfer balances to your bank account to collect interest . There were a bunch of ways to the transfer everything from direct deposit to your bank account to a balance transfer check payable to yourself to overpaying another credit card and requesting a refund. Over paying another account sets off a lot of red flags now days but other methods still work. The financial atmosphere has changed a lot and there are very few available cards with no balance transfer fees or capped fees and the interest rates are a lot lower now so it really isn't worth doing.
"Not only does the interest get charged from Day 1 on new purchases as long as you have a revolving balance, but the credit card agreement often says something to the effect that any partial payment is applied first to the  interest to date, and then transfer balances on which no interest is being charged and so the bank is losing money on it, then to other transfer  balances and cash advances (and no refund of that 3% fee that was  collected up front on the cash advance) and finally to the purchases starting from the most recent back to the oldest one. Even the FAQ on my card site says in simple language  ""We apply payments and credits at our discretion, including in a manner most favorable or convenient for us."" (see mhoran_psprep's answer). The moral is indeed what Dheer has already told you: do not carry a revolving balance on a credit card and if you have a revolving balance, pay it off as soon as possible,  Do not wait for the end of the grace period; if possible, pay it off the day the statement is  issued, or if you can make only a partial payment, make it as soon as possible.  Make multiple partial payments each month if you have cash flow problems, or improve your cash flow by forgoing one or more of the many Grande Vente Mocharino Espresso Lattes you consume each day.  Credit card debt is close to the worst kind of debt that you can have, and it is best to get out from under as soon as possible. Remember, there is effectively no grace period as long as you have a revolving balance on your credit card.  You are paying interest for every one of those days." Look for offers for 0% (or low) APR on balance transfers. It is more likely to get a promotional APR on balance transfer, than to lower the APR you already have. Of course, try to pay off the balance as long as you're in the period of the promotion, because otherwise you'll end up paying the high rate again. If you cannot get such an offer (low credit etc) - then just try to pay off ASAP and start rebuilding your credit, not much workarounds there. BTW: When you consider the balance transfer promotions - look at 3 things: The promotion period - when it ends, so that you'd know how much time you have to pay it off. The balance transfer fee - usually the balance transfer itself is not free, and you pay 3-5% on the transfer. If you have 0% APR for 12 months, it makes it effectively 5% APR (for the 5% fee), if the period is lesser - the APR is higher. Take that into the account. The APR after the promotion, in case you can't pay off in that time frame. "Sometimes you need to do more than ask to have your rating reduced.  You need to make it in their best interest (no pun intended) to do it. Find the lowest rate card and then tell the others you want to transfer your balance to that card and close the account (don't do it, it is an empty threat). I guarantee they will transfer you to a retention agent who will give you a better deal.  From their perspective your current offer is getting 19% interest instead of 22%, why would they do that without some motivation? With the approach described above their options are get 19% interest instead of 0% interest. It is all about negotiation and the ""Retention agents"" have the most leverage to do so." This is brilliant for AmEx; they make a cut off of every transaction you do, so even if you pay it off before you ever pay interest, they still may take some.  Balance transfers, on the other hand, generally have a transfer fee that locks in a percent, depending on the offer. For your own sake, it can be a good deal if you   Considering that they make some money, it makes sense why they offer people this - merchants, as you'll read from Nerd Wallet, are paying extra to use credit cards. Trick question dude. Can't be done. Sorry to tell you. I've been hit with this. Credit card companies do not make money on these customers. Why does Amex have an annual fee on all cards and an abnormally large transaction fee for merchants? Because they don't allow you to carry a balance (On traditional cards). Meaning they don't make money on interest, like the customers in question here. Technically, yes but, in practice, no.  I use a card for everything and pay it off every month. Sometimes, several times a month depending on how the month is going. In the last 10 years, I've paid a total of $8 in interest because I legitimately forgot to pay my balance before the statement came out when I was out of town. I wasn't late, I just didn't beat the statement and had a small interest charge that I couldn't successfully argue off.  In the same time period, I've had one card cancelled at the banks request. The reason was that I hadn't used it in two years so they cancelled me.  I never pay annual fees, I get cards with great rewards programs and I (almost) never pay interest. If your bank cancels your card because you're too responsible, find a better bank. "This is most likely protecting Square's relationship with Visa/Mastercard/AMEX/etc. Credit card companies typically charge their customers a much higher interest rate with no grace period on cash advances (withdrawals made from an ATM using a credit card). If you use Square to generate something that looks like a ""merchandise transaction"" but instead just hand over a wad of banknotes, you're forcing the credit card company to apply their cheaper ""purchases"" interest rate on the transaction, plus award any applicable cashback offers†, etc. Square would absolutely profit off of this, but since it would result in less revenue for the partner credit card companies, that would quickly sour the relationship and could even result in them terminating their agreements with Square altogether. † This is the kind of activity they are trying to prevent:  1. Bill yourself $5,000 for ""merchandise"", but instead give yourself cash.  2. Earn 1.5% cashback ($75).  3. Use $4,925 of the cash and a $75 statement credit to pay your credit card statement.  4. Pocket the difference.  5. Repeat. Note, the fees involved probably negate any potential gain shown in this example, but I'm sure with enough creative thinking someone would figure out a way to game the system if it wasn't expressly forbidden in the terms of service" My concern is that just moving the balance will make you feel like you've accomplished something, when you really haven't.  Sure you'll save on interest but that just reduces the rate at which you're bleeding and doesn't heal the wound.  It's entirely likely that you'll feel freed by the reduced balance on the original card, ignore the transferred balance since you aren't paying any interest on it, and soon you'll have two cards that are maxed out. I would instead look at getting your expenses under control. Make sure you have the start of an emergency fund - 1-2k depending on your family situation. If you are single start with 1k; if you have kids bump it up to 2k or maybe a little more just to avoid charging any expenses. Get on a written budget, and don't spend any money in the next month that is not accounted for.  Then you can figure out how much you can afford to put towards the credit card.  That will also tell you how much interest you're going to pay.   The only way I would recommend the balance transfer is if the interest savings (after the balance transfer fee) reduced the time it takes to pay off the card by two or more months (since one month isn't going to make a big difference interest-wise), and you immediately cancelled the original card, and cut up both cards (including the new one), making payments by mail or online.  Other than that, the interest saved after the balance transfer fee probably isn't worth the risk of being in a worse situation on the other side. First and foremost you should do more research on credit cards and what everything means.  As expressed by others the balance transfer fee is not what you think it is.  Credit cards can be great, they can also quickly erode your credit score and your standing.  So understanding the basics is VERY important.   The credit card that is right for you should have the following criteria.  The first two points should be straight forward, you should not have to pay a CC company for the privilege to use their card.  They should pay you through perks and rewards.  It should also be a CC that can be used for what you need it for.  If you travel internationally a lot and the CC you choose only works within the US then what good is it? The third point is where you need to ask yourself what you do a lot and if a CC can offer rewards through travel miles, or cash back or other bonuses based on your lifestyle.  The transfer fee is not what you think it is, people who already are carrying debt on another credit card and would like to transfer that debt to another credit card would be interested in finding a fee or a low %.  People do this to get a batter rate or to get away from a bad credit card.  If one charges 28% and another charges 13%, well it makes sense to transfer existing debt over to the 13% provided they don't crush you on fees.  Since you have no credit card debt (assumption based on the fact you want to build your credit), you should ask yourself for what purpose and how often do you plan to use the credit card.  Would this card be just for emergencies, and wont be used on daily purchases then a credit card that offers 3% cash back on gasoline purchases is not for you.  If you however love to travel and plan to use your credit card for a lot of purchases OR have a few large purchases (insurance, tuition etc.) then get a credit card that provides rewards like miles.  It really comes down to you and your situation. There are numerous websites dedicated to the best credit card for any situation.   The final thing I will say is what I mentioned at the beginning, its important, CC's can be a tool to establish and improve your credit worthiness, they can also be a tool to destroy your credit worthiness, so be careful and make smart choices on what you use your card for.  A credit score is like a mountain, it requires a slow and steady discipline to reach the top, but one misstep and that credit score can tumble quickly. Not sure if this is possible... It is possible! It is called a balance transfer card and most of the major credit card companies offer them. It is possible to save a significant amount on interest during the grace period. However... Is this a viable option? Not really. Any card will charge you an upfront fee of 3% to 5% of the balance you are transferring. This really only buys you some time in case you are about to fall behind on payments. For many people it's just a way to shuffle around debt, digging themselves a little deeper into consumer debt with each transfer. The U.S. bankruptcy laws no longer make it simple to discharge credit card debt, so you can't simply run up a massive tab on credit cards and then just walk away from them anymore.  That used to be the case, but that particular loophole no longer exists the way it once did. Further, you could face fraud charges if it can be proven you acted deliberately with the intent to commit fraud.   Finally, you won't be able to rack up a ton of new cards as quickly as you might think, so your ability to amass enough to make your plan worth the risk is not as great as you seem to believe. As a closing note, don't do it.  All you do is make it more expensive for the rest of us to carry credit cards.  After all, the banks aren't going to eat the losses.  They'll just pass them along in the form of higher fees and rates to the rest of us. That would have been a good idea.  They don't charge interest on a $0 balance, but if you payoff your account after the cycle date, there is a hidden balance and that balance will accrue interest. It is only a few cents a day.  I just don't think it is legal for them to refuse to provide you a payoff quote mid cycle. I'm almost certain. When I worked for Discover it was a key point in training to not give the wrong amount and to make sure to use the calculator in the system to quote a daily balance, how much it goes up per day, and how much they should send if they were mailing the payment, giving consideration for the time it takes to receive/process the payment. If it's feasible, try to get one card down to zero balance, and preferably one of your cash-back cards.  Then keep that at zero every month (pay it off in full), and use it for your purchases as you describe above. The idea would be to get it so that you are not paying interest on your month to month purchases.  This not only reduces the 20% or whatever that you're paying on that balance, but also the 20% or whatever you're paying on those purchases - remember, a card you carry a balance on charges you interest on those purchases from the current month. If this isn't feasible (if these are all very high balance cards), then I suppose the way you're currently doing it would be okay, though I think you're overthinking things to some extent - but with 80% interest, if that's a significant pile of money, you may need to as clearly that needs to be tackled first.  I think it's mostly better for you to pay your day to day stuff out of pocket and not use your cards the way you are suggesting, but with the 80% loan(s) you may need to. The reason I say it's better not to use your card the way you suggest is that it is difficult to do properly and never get it wrong (i.e., never go over a balance), and it's also leaving you in the habit of using credit.  It doesn't help you budget necessarily, either.  Instead, set up a fully developed budget that includes all of those minimum payments and pay them.  Certainly once you have the > 50% debt handled, I would switch to this method (not using credit cards at all). If you want to ensure that you stop paying interest, the best thing to do is to not use the card for a full billing cycle.  Calculating credit card interest with precision ahead of time is difficult, as how you use the card both in terms of how much and when is critical. "If your financial needs aren't complex, and mostly limited to portfolio management, consider looking into the newish thing called robo-advisers (proper term is ""Automated investing services"").  The difference is that robo-advisers use software to manage portfolios on a large scale, generating big economy of scale and therefore offering a much cheaper services than personal advisor would - and unless your financial needs are extremely complex, the state of the art of scaled up portfolio management is at the point that a human advisor really doesn't give you any value-add (and - as other answers noted - human advisor can easily bring in downsides such as conflict of interest and lack of fiduciary responsibility).  disclaimer: I indirectly derive my living from a company which derives a very small part of their income from a robo-adviser, therefore there's a possible small conflict of interest in my answer"