The Halifax All in One credit card gives you the best of both worlds with 0% for 9 months on new purchases and balance transfers.
What's the deal?
The Halifax All in One credit card offers interest free purchases for 9 months and interest free balance transfers for 9 months too.
Balance transfers are subject to a 3% handling fee (minimum £3) and will need to be made within 90 days of opening an account in order to be eligible for the interest free offer.
The standard rate of interest applied to the card after the promotional period is 15.9% APR (variable).
What makes it great?
With most credit cards combining balance transfers and new purchases is a bad idea because of something known as the negative order of payment. This determines the way in which a lender will allocate your repayments.
Most providers opt to use your repayments to clear your cheap debts (those accumulating a low rate of interest such as 0% offers) first, leaving the expensive debts (those accumulating interest at a higher rate) until last so they build up as much interest as possible.
For this reason it's rarely a good idea to make new purchases on a card you are using to pay off a balance transfer on a promotional rate.
This is because most card providers will start to add interest to your new purchases right away (or at the end of any promotional period offered - these tend to be shorter for purchases than balance transfers for this reason) but won't start paying them off until your balance transfer is cleared completely. This means your new spending costs you far more in the long run.
However, as the Halifax All in One card offers equal length promotional periods for both balance transfers and new purchases, getting caught up in the negative order of payment trap is no longer a risk.
This makes it one of the only cards suitable for making new purchases and balance transfers simultaneously.
Additionally, while neither the 9 months of interest free purchases or balance transfers are market leading offers in themselves, both remain competitive.
Who would it suit?
This credit card is ideal for individuals who are looking for the convenience of an interest free offer on balance transfers and new purchase rolled into one straight forward financial product.
What's the catch?
While you avoid the negative order of payment issue it is still important to remember that at the end of the 9 month 0% offer interest will be applied to any outstanding balances at the card's standard rate (currently 15.9% APR variable). As such you will need to consider whether you will be able to completely clear any existing balances that you plan to transfer within the 9 months as well as repay any new spending you build up during that time.
Additionally, it's worth bearing in mind that Halifax does set the standard rate of interest available on the card on an individual basis. This means that, depending on your circumstances, you may be charged interest at either 15.9% APR (variable), 19.9% APR (variable) or 21.9% APR (variable) when the introductory offers come to an end.
What's the alternative?
If you're looking for an interest free offer on purchases-only then the Tesco Clubcard Mastercard offers a market-leading 0% for 12 months on new spending. The First Direct Gold credit card matches this interest free offering but is only available to existing customers.
The Marks & Spencer credit card and MBNA Retail card both offer 10 months of interest free purchases and quite a number of others offer 0% for 9 months too.
When it comes to interest free balance transfers the Virgin credit card leads the way with 0% for 16 months (a 2.98% balance transfer).
Alternatively, the Barclaycard Simplicity card is the best option for long term balance transfers with a standard rate of 6.8% APR (variable).
We have done our very best to make sure that the information included in this Deal is accurate. However, sometimes offers can be withdrawn or changed at the last minute so please do check that you're able to redeem this Deal before parting with any money, or going out of your way to take advantage of the offer.
