Switching Credit Cards
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Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2004 4:23 pm
Post subject: Switching Credit Cards
June
Date: 6/21/2001 1:36 pm CDT
I have been tranferring balances for about 8 years now. It was a little bit more stressful before I found your site and the others because I had to basically hope that an offer to tranfer came in the mail before the old into rate ran out. With your site I am able to do a much better job of planning my moves.
I have done everything from float a car loan at zero percent for over 2 years while paying it off, to tranfering balances into CD's that last the duration of the intro period and then pocketing the interest and paying off the card.
The key is obviously to never make a late payment and keep very good track of when intro rates run out. But I keep a couple of long held cards in my office at home. In the event there is a pinch where I have no 0% offer to move to, I can always transfer my balance to one of my old cards for 3.9%-5% until I find one at 0% to move my balance to.
I also use balance transfers with my house payments. You can save a lot by paying an extra $50 per month on your mortgage. So when I am in a position to do that for a while, I will transfer about 2k out of the mortgage to a credit card at no interest and get that off my mortgage immediately then pay off the credit card before the intro rate runs out or if I'm unable, I transfer it again and again until its gone.
These intro rates are really a great deal if you use them right. But unless you are extremely organized, and pay attention to things like transfer fees and not making late payments which usually kick you out of the intro rate, they will significantly increase your debt and kill your credit rating.
I primarily use your site to keep an eye on the interest and intro deals such as low transfer interest deals, or low intro rate on purchases that cards are using, and occasionally read some of the articles. When I have a good experience like I did with Juniper, or a horrible one like I did with the Fusion card, I occasionally make a comment.
For me, 0% on balance transfers, or 0% on purchases is just the same. If I can't transfer an existing balance out, then I get a new card with 0% on purchases and then pay off my old balance while creating a new one (making sure that it is a smaller one though). So basically I transfer the balance or portion of it either way.
I have student loans, a mortgage, and a car loan right now all at good rates. I generally try to keep about 13k worth of that debt floating on 0% intro rates cards. As I pay the cards down, I make more transfers to keep a good balance.
I haven't paid anything in terms of interest or fees or penalties on the credit card debt except once where I was forced to transfer a balance out to a 1.9% intro rate card for a couple of months when I couldn't find a good 0% deal at the time. That wound up costing me about $10 total in interest for the couple months I had it there.
Lastly, I make all my purchases with my Discover Card so I get some cash back for all my purchases. If I can't use my Discover card, I don't buy it. You can trace my entire life as a consumer through my Discover card. Every tube of toothpase and peice of gum is on there somewhere.
I work for legal aid so I see the bad side of credit every day. I think that credit cards are very deceptive in their advertising, putting everything good in big colorful print and hiding everything that is bad in fine print on the back of the page. I see so many people that get themselves in way over their head because they don't understand interest or the fees they are being charged.
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2004 4:23 pm
Post subject: Switching Credit Cards
June
Date: 6/21/2001 1:36 pm CDT
I have been tranferring balances for about 8 years now. It was a little bit more stressful before I found your site and the others because I had to basically hope that an offer to tranfer came in the mail before the old into rate ran out. With your site I am able to do a much better job of planning my moves.
I have done everything from float a car loan at zero percent for over 2 years while paying it off, to tranfering balances into CD's that last the duration of the intro period and then pocketing the interest and paying off the card.
The key is obviously to never make a late payment and keep very good track of when intro rates run out. But I keep a couple of long held cards in my office at home. In the event there is a pinch where I have no 0% offer to move to, I can always transfer my balance to one of my old cards for 3.9%-5% until I find one at 0% to move my balance to.
I also use balance transfers with my house payments. You can save a lot by paying an extra $50 per month on your mortgage. So when I am in a position to do that for a while, I will transfer about 2k out of the mortgage to a credit card at no interest and get that off my mortgage immediately then pay off the credit card before the intro rate runs out or if I'm unable, I transfer it again and again until its gone.
These intro rates are really a great deal if you use them right. But unless you are extremely organized, and pay attention to things like transfer fees and not making late payments which usually kick you out of the intro rate, they will significantly increase your debt and kill your credit rating.
I primarily use your site to keep an eye on the interest and intro deals such as low transfer interest deals, or low intro rate on purchases that cards are using, and occasionally read some of the articles. When I have a good experience like I did with Juniper, or a horrible one like I did with the Fusion card, I occasionally make a comment.
For me, 0% on balance transfers, or 0% on purchases is just the same. If I can't transfer an existing balance out, then I get a new card with 0% on purchases and then pay off my old balance while creating a new one (making sure that it is a smaller one though). So basically I transfer the balance or portion of it either way.
I have student loans, a mortgage, and a car loan right now all at good rates. I generally try to keep about 13k worth of that debt floating on 0% intro rates cards. As I pay the cards down, I make more transfers to keep a good balance.
I haven't paid anything in terms of interest or fees or penalties on the credit card debt except once where I was forced to transfer a balance out to a 1.9% intro rate card for a couple of months when I couldn't find a good 0% deal at the time. That wound up costing me about $10 total in interest for the couple months I had it there.
Lastly, I make all my purchases with my Discover Card so I get some cash back for all my purchases. If I can't use my Discover card, I don't buy it. You can trace my entire life as a consumer through my Discover card. Every tube of toothpase and peice of gum is on there somewhere.
I work for legal aid so I see the bad side of credit every day. I think that credit cards are very deceptive in their advertising, putting everything good in big colorful print and hiding everything that is bad in fine print on the back of the page. I see so many people that get themselves in way over their head because they don't understand interest or the fees they are being charged.
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
posted by CardRatings.com at 12:27 PM
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