Balance transfers are a great way to save on interest charges. With a Balance Transfer, you are essentially transferring your full (or partial) balance from “Credit Card A” to “Credit Card B”.

In essence, Credit Card B makes a payment to Credit Card A on your behalf. As a result, your balance on Credit Card A is paid down by the amount of the balance transfer that you requested.

Credit Card A does not charge the cardholder (i.e. you) any fees as a result of the balance transfer, since for them it is the same thing as receiving a payment. Instead of receiving a payment from you, they receive the payment on your behalf from the company of Credit Card B. Credit Card B will most likely charge the cardholder (i.e. you) a transfer fee. Most commonly transfer fees are 3 percent of the amount transferred.

No credit card company can prevent any cardholder from making a balance transfer out of their cards.

Check out our list of balance transfer credit cards from major credit card companies.