DD has amassed about $5K in credit card debt at a staggering 18% rate (I only use a debit card now so not familiar with all the CC plans and offers).
Anyone know of a credit card that offers 0% finance charge AND a minimal (not 5% of balance) transfer fee?
Googled; Citi has one that says 0% transfer fee then in fine print says 5% transfer fee.
Confused.
0% interest rate cards are only 0% interest for a limited time.
Correct but doesn’t answer my initial question.
Discover It Card
“0% Intro APR for 14 months on purchases and balance transfers”
https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/cash-back/it-card.html?ICMPGN=ACQ_HNAV_ALL_CC_DIT_CARD
Slate from Chase
“0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers”
https://creditcards.chase.com/balance-transfer-credit-cards/chase-slate
I would shred her current credit card. She doesn’t know how to handle money, yet.
How badly does she need this credit card? Can she get a lower interest personal loan at her bank or credit union for this debt, and then just cancel that credit card?
Citi is 21 months interest-free for balance transfers. Yes, it’s 5% for the balance transfer but that’s less than one month’s interest if you keep it on a regular CC.
Reminder: you can’t (generally) transfer balances between cards within the same company. So if her CC is discover, discover cards won’t help her.
You also have to remember that if you continue to use the card after you transfer money over, new purchases may not be at the low, introductory rate. Also, if you don’t pay the entire transferred balance by the set date, the entire balance may be back billed for the full amount of the deferred interest.
I get a free transfer card every couple of years and move my other balances over to it and put no other charges on it, then pay it off. I’ve used Chase Slate in the past, but was disappointed that it only allowed me to transfer over half of the amount I sought to move over. I am now using a credit union card with free transfer but a 1.99% interest.
@happymomof1 - general wisdom is not to cancel credit cards as that dings your credit rating. I do think that your idea of getting a lower rate loan and paying the card off is a good one but she should destroy the card and not cancel the account. The only time I would cancel such an account would be if it had an annual fee and at that, I would only cancel it at renewal time because that can be justified.
We have used this benefit many times. Last year, we had to have 17K worth of roofing on our rental house. I put it on a card with a 1% balance transfer fee (you can have money deposited in the bank) and 0% interest for 15 months and paid it off that way. Balance transfer cash went back to the bank. That works out to 0.8%/year interest.
Just did it again to pay for a camper we bought. The 1% fee we used both times was from Barclay Cards.
Even a 5% fee, if you can really get it the 0% for 21 months is also great deal–that’s less 3%/year.
The key is do NOT purchase a single thing and set up automatic payments, because if you miss a payment, the interest rate skyrockets.
@romanigypsyeyes: it is true you can’t BT to same card,but you can BT to your checking account and use the cash to pay off older/higher rate balances.
Also, don’t use the card you transfer to for additional purchases. Those purchases will generally be charged the regular interest rate (not 0%) as the company will apply your payments to the 0% balance and not the new charges.