What You Need to Know About Citi Diamond Preferred's Balance Transfer Fee

If you have expensive debt, the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card could be the solution. It has a long balance transfer offer with a 0% intro APR, allowing you to refinance your debt and save on interest. Before you do that, it's important to know what to expect with the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card's balance transfer fee.

What is the Citi Diamond Preferred's balance transfer fee?

The Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card charges a balance transfer fee of 5% ($5 min.), whichever is greater. Citi adds the fee to your card's balance when it processes the transfer. For example, if you transfer a $1,000 balance, then Citi will also add the $50 fee, meaning your card's balance will increase by $1,050 total.

The standard range for balance transfer fees is 3% to 5%. While the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card is within that range, there are several balance transfer credit cards that only charge 3%. You may want to compare credit card options to see if you could save more money with another card.

SEE MORE: Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards

What are the best features of the Citi Diamond Preferred?

The best feature of the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card is a 0%, 21 months intro APR on balance transfers. It begins from the date of the first transfer and applies to balance transfers completed within four months of account opening. After the intro period is over, the go-to 18.24% - 28.99% (Variable) APR applies.

A balance transfer offer can make it easier, cheaper, and faster to pay off credit card debt. Let's say you have $5,000 in credit card debt at a 20% APR. If you pay $300 per month, it will take you 20 months to pay off, and you'll pay $906 in interest.

If you open a Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card and transfer the $5,000 balance there, you'll pay a $250 balance transfer fee. But you can then pay down your balance interest free. If you pay that same $300 per month, you'll have it paid off in 18 months with no more interest charges. You get out of debt two months earlier and save $656.

LEARN MORE: A Complete Guide to Balance Transfers

Here are the rest of this Citi credit card's best perks:

• No annual fee
• 0%, 12 months into APR on purchases (the go-to 18.24% - 28.99% (Variable) APR applies after the intro period)
• Free FICO® Score monitoring

What are Citi's balance transfer rules?

Here are the balance transfer rules with Citi:

• You must complete balance transfers within four months of opening your Citi credit card.
• You can't transfer balances from one Citi account to another. That means you can't move balances from other Citi credit cards to the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card.
• The amount you want to transfer and the balance transfer fee can't be more than your Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card's available credit. If you want to transfer $10,000 in balances, you would need at least $10,500 in available credit.

How to do a balance transfer with Citi

You can transfer a balance with Citi online or over the phone at the number on the back of your card. Here's how to do a balance transfer with Citi online:

1. Log in to your Citi account.
2. Select "Credit Card Services." You'll find it under the "Services" drop-down menu.
3. Select "Balance Transfer," which is located under "Lending Options."
4. Select "Start a Balance Transfer."
5. Choose the balance transfer offer you want to use.
6. Enter the transfer details and submit your request.

It generally takes Citi between two and 21 days to complete a balance transfer. Until the balance is transferred to your Citi card, continue making the necessary payments on the original account. Otherwise, you could incur late fees. Once all your balance transfers are complete, you can focus on paying down your Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card as quickly as possible to take advantage of the balance transfer offer.

Still have questions?

Here are some other questions we've answered:

• What credit score do you need for the Citi Diamond Preferred?
• What is the Citi Diamond Preferred's credit limit?
• What are the best credit cards?