It follows the announcement of Virgin Money’s record 41-month card last month.

Both however come with hefty fees. The Virgin Money card charges a 4% balance transfer fee, while holders of the new Halifax offering will pay 3.5%.

Details of the Halifax deal

After the 41-month 0% period, the Halifax fee drops to 3%. Balance transfers must be made within 90 days of opening the account and must be a minimum of £100.

Halifax has also launched a card offering borrowers 0% interest for up to 25 months with no fee. Again, balance transfers must be made within the first 90 days and be at least £100. After the 25-month 0% period, the fee jumps to 3%.

Verdict

A number of 40 month 0% interest balance transfer cards come with significantly lower fees. For example, Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland currently charge 2.41%. So it seems borrowers are being hit fairly hard for the one extra month of 0%.

On a £4,000 balance, you’d pay a balance transfer free of £160 with Virgin Money, £140 with Halifax but just £96.40 with Lloyds bank.

Andrew Hagger of Moneycomms.co.uk said: “It’s almost as if lenders are trying to reset the market rate higher for balance transfer fees to justify the longest i.e. 41 month deals.

“41 month deals may appear at the top of the best buy deals but you have to question why anyone would choose these over the raft of 40 month offers with a far lower fee.”