You may be able to save £1,000s a year if you have credit or store card debt. Simply lower the interest rate and more of your money goes towards clearing the actual debt itself.

Yet this isn’t all about getting new cards – it’s still possible to save money even if you get rejected for new credit. But the most important thing is you stop borrowing more!

Balance transfers are your big weapon

This is when you get one card to pay off the debts on other cards, so you now owe it the money instead, hopefully at a special cheap rate.

If you can get new credit

The best balance transfer deals are for new customers, so if you have a reasonable score this is the top method.

There are two types of deals: 

• Short term or tart deals
  
  If you can pay off your debts in a short time, or are a card tart, willing and able to continually shifting debts, then go for a 0% deal.

• Lock in a long-term cheap rate
  
  Most people should avoid short term deals, as once they end, the rate rockets. ‘Life of balance’ transfers are much less hassle. They give you a cheap rate lasting until all the debt shifted has been repaid in full.
  

We invited a MoneySaving guinea pig into the studio with £6,000 debt on three credit cards, but with a good credit history. Martin worked out he could save him over £1,000 in interest over the life of the balance by switching to a mixture of 0% and long-term balance transfer cards. That would also slash the time it would take to clear the debt from three and a half years to just under two years.

External Link: Read Martin’s Best Balance Transfers guide for full details and best buys on all the latest rates.

Cut the costs without new credit

If you can’t get new credit, or just want to use what you’ve got more efficiently, there are a host of hidden existing customer balance transfer deals. To find out if you’re eligible, call up your card companies and ask: “Can I shift debts to you from other cards at a cheap rate?”

For example, Barclaycard often allows its customers to move debts to it at 6.9% life of balance, with a 2.5% fee, which is far cheaper than most cards’ standard rates.

Once you’ve found out what you’re eligible for, simply shuffle your debts to where they’re cheapest.

External Link: For a detailed explanation read Martin’s Cut Costs Without New Credit guide.