A credit card balance transfer is when you move the credit card debt on one account to another credit card account with a different company.  Essentially the new issuer pays your original credit card company for your debt, bringing the balance on that account to zero.  Unless you choose to close the original account, it may still be used.  Your debt then goes onto the second credit card account under that issuer’s interest rate.  Many people transfer their credit card balances when they find a credit card with a more attractive interest rate than the one on which they have currently accumulated debt.  Credit card issuers also use balance transfer offers as marketing tools and will sometimes extend credit card offers that feature lower interest rates on the transferred balance for a period of time.