Credit cards: What counts as a balance transfer?

[PumpkinSteve]

I was just wondering, I've never had a credit card before but I do have several things on monthly payments e.g. different insurance policies, a store card etc. Would paying those off with a credit card count as a balance transfer or just a purchase?

The reason I'm asking is that I saw a card with 0% interest on balance transfers for a limited period, so I was thinking you could potentially pay those smaller things off and save yourself money on the interest. Yay or nay?

[Benny Saltstein]

A balance transfer from a store card would count but the insurance direct debit (I assume) would not.

Remember these balance transfer typically incur a 3%ish fee. You can usually also transfer money into a current account although this also incurs a higher fee.

So, strictly speaking, these deals are not really 0%.