The Abbey bank is planning to offer a generous 13 months of interest free credit on balance transfers on its credit card from December. The card offers a standard variable interest rate of 15.9%, and any remaining balance at the end of the 13 months would be charged at this rate.

There is also a 2.5% balance transfer fee, but even with this many customers could benefit financially by transferring their balance, enjoying 13 months of interest free credit, and getting it paid off within the 13 months to ensure that they do not get charged any interest.

In addition to this the Abbey credit card is offering an impressive 5% cash back on purchases made at specified supermarkets, so in addition to avoiding interest charges on their transferred balance customers can earn money on their spending.

However, consumers are being warned that if they have transferred a balance then they should not spend on the card, otherwise the purchase balance will get trapped behind the interest free transferred balance, and will be left to accrue interest. This means that even with 5% cash back at supermarkets you will incur hefty interest charges that will counteract the benefits.

Customers could benefit from the Abbey card if they use the card either to transfer a balance or to make purchases and repay the balance at the end of the month. Customers will not benefit if they do both, as they will otherwise be hit with high interest charges on their purchases whilst their monthly repayments are used to pay off the transferred balance.

There are also a number of other credit cards that are offering long interest free periods on balance transfers. This includes the Barclaycard Platinum, which offers 14 months of interest free credit on balance transfers with a transfer fee of 2.5%, and the Virgin Money card, which offers 15 months of interest free credit on balance transfers with a transfer fee of 2.98%.