St.George offers new, 36 month balance transfer offer - the longest in the market

St.George have announced a new balance transfer offer, which will allow Aussie spenders to pay off their credit card debt at rock bottom rates over a lengthy period of 36 months.

The new balance transfer offer is available on the St.George Vertigo Platinum Card and offers a 36 month balance transfer period. This is the longest balance transfer period in Mozo’s database, which tracks back to 2009, giving cardholders plenty of time to chip away at their credit card debt.

The only catch? Although the card offers a long period of low 3% interest, unlike some balance transfer cards from competitor banks, there’s no zero interest period attached.

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Balance transfer offers are designed to give spenders some breathing room to pay off credit card debt, without further interest being stacked on top of their balance. That’s why offers usually come with zero interest for a certain period of time, often between 6 - 18 months.

One of the main drawbacks of these offers, is that unpaid balances leftover after the initial 0% interest period will then often be charged interest at the higher cash advance rate, instead of the rate applied to regular purchases.

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The new St.George offer has no 0% interest offer, but still represents significant value for Aussie spenders looking to clear away lingering debt thanks to its lengthy balance transfer period.

“This offer is best suited to people who need to chip away at their debt over a long period of time. It may be better in that case to attract the very minimal 3% interest over three years, rather than pay no interest for a short time, and then be hit with a rate as high as 20.74%,” said Mozo’s Data Manager Peter Marshall.

For example, for a cardholder paying off $4,000 of debt who can afford to make $200 in repayments each month, the difference between the St.George offer and a BT offer with a 12 month 0% interest period is quite small.

For a cardholder who can only afford to make $100 repayments each month, however, the difference is more significant.

“It’s all about choosing an offer that works best for you,” said Marshall. “Maybe having low interest for a longer period is the best strategy for your budget.”

Update: This offer is no longer available on the Mozo site. You can search the market for other offers using our balance transfer comparison tool.