Over the past year, data available to Smart Balance Transfers suggests that balance transfer approval rates have dropped an astounding 40%, with most of the decline occurring since September. Early data from March seems to indicate further drops in approval rates are on the horizon.
Because Smart Balance Transfers does not collect personally identifiable information from our visitors, we are unable to precisely track approval rates. However, we have developed a number of metrics to approximate approval rates, and all of these indicators are unfortunately pointing down.
One of the reasons for the large and continued decline in approval rates can obviously be attributed to the fact that credit card companies just don’t want to lend people money at a 0% rate for a full year. Another factor is the lack of competition. Many credit card companies have stopped advertising 0% interest rates for 1 year and replaced these deals with 0% rates for 6 months. American Express, for example, essentially stopped offering low APRs on balance transfers for most of their consumer cards.
I’ve been warning consumers about these trends for months and, unfortunately, my predictions have been very accurate. Thus, to repeat what has become a mantra for this site, if you carry a balance on your credit card and want to save money with a 0% APR balance transfer, act now while you can. Otherwise, you may be faced with higher interest rates, credit limit cuts, and very few options to facilitate paying down credit card debt.
For information on current balance transfer deals, please see the 0% balance transfer offers page on Smart Balance Transfers where you can compare offers and apply online for approval.
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