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Can't afford to clear credit card debts? You can't afford not to try and move 'em to 0% and save £1,000s

Get up to 31mths interest-free to slash what you owe

If you're paying interest on credit cards, a balance transfer credit card remains one of the most powerful tools in your MoneySaving belt, often saving £100s or £1,000s. It's where you apply for a new card to repay existing credit/store cards, so you owe it the money instead, but at 0% interest. This means repayments go to clear what you owe - rather than paying off the interest - so you get debt-free quicker.

The longest deals currently give you 0% for around 2.5 years - time to get costly debt under control. Just look at how it worked for John: "Over the past year I used your site three times to gradually get all my credit card debt on to 0% cards, saving just over £190 a month in interest, which I'm using to pay off the debt as quickly as possible."

Our top-pick cards are below, yet with balance transfers, YOUR top pick depends on a combination of whether you can get the card, and whether it gives you long enough at 0% to pay it off. To help you choose...

- ALWAYS use an eligibility calculator before applying. Every credit card application leaves a mark on your credit file. To protect it, use our 0% eligibility calculator - this'll show your odds of being accepted for many of the top picks, without any impact on your ability to get credit in the future. Then, when it comes to applying, you can go for the one you're most likely to be accepted for.

- Aim for a 0% long enough to clear your debt, then look for the lowest fee. Many balance transfer deals charge a one-off percentage fee of the amount of debt you transfer, so minimise that. Unsure? Play safe and go long.

You can't balance-transfer between cards issued by the same bank or banking group. For example, if you've debt on a card from Royal Bank of Scotland, you can't transfer it to a NatWest card as they're part of the same group.

Getting the right card is only the start point. To make it work, follow our Balance Transfer Golden Rules...

a) Clear debt before the 0% ends. Clear it or transfer again before the 0% ends or you'll pay the rep APR - which is usually about 22% to 24%, but can be (much) higher. It's not cheap, so don't pay it.

b) Never miss the minimum monthly repayment. Or you can lose the 0%. Set up a direct debit for the minimum payment as a safety measure to ensure it happens. Yet it's better to pay debts off quicker if you can - so try to make manual repayments on top too.

c) Don't spend/withdraw cash on the card. It usually isn't at the cheap rate and it's best not to build up other debt while you're trying to repay what you've already got.

d) Do the transfer at application. You can normally tell the provider about the balances you want to transfer during the application. If you're accepted, it'll then contact the lenders and shift the debt for you. If you don't do it then, you usually have a further 60 or 90 days to request it and still get the 0% offer - but each card's different, so check.

A balance transfer can be very simple - if everything works out. But what do you do if you've low eligibility or don't get a high enough credit limit? We've answered your key balance transfer questions here...

The tips above are for those who can afford to meet their credit card payments and want to make them cheaper. If you can't, you'll likely need a different tack. Answer these three questions...

- Do you have sleepless nights or depression/anxiety over debt?
- Do you struggle to meet minimum monthly payments?
- Is your total debt (excluding mortgage/student loan) over a year's salary?

If you answer yes to any of these, forget balance transfers and instead get free, one-to-one debt-counselling help from Citizens Advice, StepChange or National Debtline. And if you need emotional support, try CAP. They're there to help, not judge. The most common thing we hear after is: "I finally got a good night's sleep."

And don't feel alone, there's no stigma, you can sort this. Read inspiring stories in our Debt-free wannabe forum, and see our Mental Health & Debt and Debt crisis help guides.