I am respectfully asking the board's opinion on a plan of action I am considering regarding balance transfers. Is it a mistake to transfer a balance to a card with a low introductory APR, and when the low rate expires transfer the remaining balance to yet another intro APR? I have a slight debt to a certain gov. agency I have to take care of, more than I can pay in one sum, and in thinking about the transfer plan and it seems like a good way to get around somebody's high-interest, take 1/4 of your piddling monthly payment for penalties idea of a joke. Very Funny. I plan on making $100.00 monthly payments, so this isn't going to drag out very long, but the idea almost seems too good to work out. There has to be a couple of drawbacks. I guess what I am wanting is to pay off a debt with an unlimited supply of 2.9% or less APR. Take advantage of the cheap intro offer and then cut them up or at least file them away when the offer expires. I have learned my lesson about Credit Records and Driving Records (cheap ins!) and am not going to miss any payments, pay double in interest by making only the minimum, or go charge-crazy because I have a couple cards. Or speed. Jeeze, if my parents could only hear me now: 20 years later their advice finally kicked in! Thank-you for your help.
Your plan is good, if you consider the following: You'll have to apply for several cards. Too many accounts opened in a short period of time looks suspicios. It may hurt your credit score a bit. If you have too much credit available compared to your income, that again could lower your scores Take into account the balance transfer fees Be carefull with all those cards, don't go into charging frenzy... If you keep it under control, your plan is very good
You don't necessarily need alot of cards, just 3-4 that routinely offer balance transfer rates. Make sure you don't have to pay any balance transfer fees. Here is how it works. Transfer money from card A to card B. When the b.t. rate runs up, transfer the remaining balance to card C. When that balance transfer runs up, transfer back to card A. Repeat cycle as needed. Only apply for a new card if the ones you already have won't offer a decent b.t. rate. One thing to keep in mind. This is generally true, but not always. You get lower b.t. rates on new cards than you will probably get on existing cards. For example, citibank is doing that 2.9 for 9 months on new accounts, but may only offer 6.9 on existing accounts (though that's still a good rate). Another example, when I got my MBNA account, it was 3.9 for 6 months. At the end of 6 months, I transfered that money to another account. Then I did a balance transfer back to MBNA for 6.9 for 6 months.
one more thing Read the fine print! Some cards will charge you a fee if you transfer a balance off their card after they offered you a special rate to get your balance. None of the accounts I have do this. But I know there are some that do.
When cards have special rate for balance transfers, does that rate remain the same for the amount transferred or does it go up?
IF THE CARD OFFERS A BALANCE TRANSFER RATE LIKE 7.90% TILL AUGUST 2001, IT IS FIXED TILL AUGUST 2001, UNLESS YOU ARE LATE A COUPLE MONTHS WITH PAYMENTS!!!
