Okay, I'll be the first to admit it..I hate applying for credit. This is why I only have two major credit cards. Here's my problem (not major, but just a pain). I have my Amex with a balance of $5700 (new furniture) I'm currently paying 12.99 and 8.99% interest (different portions have different interest rates). Of course, my payments are going to the 8.99% rate instead of the 12.99%. I have used up 57% of my credit line. Discover, I have a balance of $2000, but I have not paid interest on it yet, since I pay my bill off each month. Unfortunately, in January (when the bill is due) I can send them a hefty payment, but I'm not going to be able to pay the balance in full. I really don't want to pay interest on two cycle billing. (I'm at 40% of my credit line w/ Discover). I'm done with spending. Christmas is paid for and I have all the basics for furniture. Do I need to apply for a new card or can I arrange something with the cards I have? Any advice would be welcomed. Dani
citibank AA -> platinum select, Then play the balance transfer game, pingpong the balances so ALL BT's are on one card (life of transfer preferably), and put that card in the sock drawer. Thats my advice, i'm sticking with it. (by the way, if you have a BF or friend that will let help you play the balance transfer game, it makes things alot easier!)
Thanks LK and sam. This is what I've found out so far. I would only be using the card for BTs (no purchases or cash advances). So far I'm leaning toward Juniper. Juniper - 1.9% for six months, go to rate 9.99% + Citibank - 2.9% for six months, go to rate 9.99% + Chase - 2.9 % for six months, go to rate 9.99% + If anybody knows of a better card let me know.
citibanks web site says 0% for 9 months on most of the cards, but with a fee. At&t universal card 2.9 for 9 months then prime + 5.9. with bt fee. Bank of America has a couple of cards. One with 8.9 on bts for life, no fee. Wells Fargo has 3.9 for 6 months, then the apr depends on your credit (spread is between 4% and 9.4%) I've seen the chase offer for 0% for 12 months, but that is by special pre-approval only. I'm sure there are others.
You could also try for the generations card. My apr is 9.9. I use generations and my amex LOC (I know you already tried for that - sorry) to pay off a card temporarily, then see if that card will offer me something to transfer back again. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Most prime cards occasionally offer good deals to their current customers, but you are very much at the whim of the issuer hoping that they will. It sucks. I have a mini-story on Discover. I decided a while back to close the account because the bt offers weren't very good, the purchase apr sucked, and it would not affect my ratios too much. About 2-3 weeks after I closed it, they called me and offered me 5.9 with no fee for 6 months on a bt if I reopened the account. I wasn't thinking and said ok. Most of my debt is already below 5.9. So when I realized this, I closed the account again. About a week or 2 later, they called me again and offered me 2.9 with no fee for 6 months and offered me a $20 Borders gift card. So I reopened the account again. When my 2.9 expires, I might try this again. Of course I wouldn't close the account unless you really don't care if it is closed. I wouldn't do this if you really wanted to keep the account open. Hang in there, you'll find what you're looking for.
Juniper is a lot harder to get than Citi. I don't know what your scores are, but if you are clsoe, you may want to try Citi.
My Equifax is 746, TransUnion is 732 and Experian 694 (because they refuse to report my credit limits). I did apply for Juniper yesterday (a moment of insanity hit me). I probably should have tried Citibank since their limits and approvals are usually higher, but I wanted to see if I could get Juniper. I got the message...application pending - so I'll let you know when I get my nice denial letter in 5-7 days. Dani
