These are a couple of credit cards I currently have:
Juniper Bank Balance: $4,300 APR: 19.99%
Fleet Bank Balance: $3,500 Available Balance: ~$2,300 APR: 8.99%
I received some balance transfer checks from Fleet. It's 1.99% APR for 6 months (until April 2004). After that, it goes up to the regular APR of 8.99% There is a balance transfer fee of 3% with a maximum fee of $35
I want to take advantage of this offer and transfer $2,300 from my Juniper account to my Fleet account. I believe that this will save me some money on interest payments.
Is this a wise decision? Is it woth it? Please discuss.
while anything is better than 19%, those arent very good deals///
your payments to fleet are going to pay down the 1.9 balance before getting to the 8.9 remainder, so youll actually be saving very little when factoring in the BT fees///
I wouldnt apply for more now if you keep getting denied (whats the reason they list?)
Do you have any short term access to cash (friend, parent?) The ideal strategy would be to payoff the Fleet card completely before doing the BT, so that the WHOLE balance would be at 1.9%....
are you keeping up your previous strategy (you mentioned in other threads) of paying at least $500/month toward your CCs? If so, after this BT you should be able to payoff Juniper in about 6 months, and Fleet a year after that... keep it up!
<< I wouldnt apply for more now if you keep getting denied (whats the reason they list?)
Do you have any short term access to cash (friend, parent?) The ideal strategy would be to payoff the Fleet card completely before doing the BT, so that the WHOLE balance would be at 1.9%....
are you keeping up your previous strategy (you mentioned in other threads) of paying at least $500/month toward your CCs? If so, after this BT you should be able to payoff Juniper in about 6 months, and Fleet a year after that... keep it up! >>
Reasons for denial (as stated in my credit report): - Too many inquiries in the last 12 months - Proportion of balances to credit limits is too high on bank/other revolving accounts - Length of time accounts have been established - Amount owed on accounts is too high
I have access no short term access to cash
I currently have a total CC debt of $14,300 (originally $17,000+) divided among five (5) credit cards. And yes, I've dedicated $500 every month into paying the CCs. Due to the fact that I have 5 CCs that I have to pay, I can only put about $300/mo into the Juniper card, and pay the minimum on the rest.
I'd like to pay the Juniper off first as it has the highest APR of the 5 CCs. At this rate of $300/mo it'll take 1 1/2 yrs to pay of the Juniper card completely. After that, I can start attacking the next highest APR card, which is an MBNA card at 17.99% APR with a balance of $1,300
This being said, what's the best course of action for me? Should I take advantage of these checks?
One thing you have to be careful (may be obvious to you already...) is that when you have exiting balance on the credit card that you want to transfer your balance to, the monthly payment you make will be paid towards the balance transfer amount, not your existing balance....and usually the existing balance has a much higher interest rate than your tansfer balance.
<< One thing you have to be careful (may be obvious to you already...) is that when you have exiting balance on the credit card that you want to transfer your balance to, the monthly payment you make will be paid towards the balance transfer amount, not your existing balance....and usually the existing balance has a much higher interest rate than your tansfer balance. >>
I'm aware of that, but I'm undecided as to what I should do.
Wow, that is a lot of credit card debt. Couple more questions before I give my 2 cents. 1) What is the APR on all of your 5 credits cards? 2) What is your balance of each credit card? 3) Do you use 1 card or multiple cards for daily expenses? Which one do you use?
<< Wow, that is a lot of credit card debt. Couple more questions before I give my 2 cents. 1) What is the APR on all of your 5 credits cards? 2) What is your balance of each credit card? 3) Do you use 1 card or multiple cards for daily expenses? Which one do you use? >>
Do you have any cards with a zero balance? If so, call that one and ask them for a balance transfer. If you have balances on everything, pay one of them down as quickly as poosible and then call them. Credit card companies don't like zero balance customers and will likely offer you something.
<< Do you have any cards with a zero balance? If so, call that one and ask them for a balance transfer. If you have balances on everything, pay one of them down as quickly as poosible and then call them. Credit card companies don't like zero balance customers and will likely offer you something. >>
You need to find some breathing room. I'd call every one of your issuers and ask them for their best no fee low interest long term balance transfer option and inquire about bumping your credit limit at the same time.
I still think you are in a better position to get a good BT offer from a zero balance card. If you can't get anyone to offer you a BT large enough to pay off the Juniper card, then pay off the MBNA card instead (using either a BT, or as a lastresort, those Fleet checks). Then wait a month and call MBNA and see what they will offer you.
<< You need to find some breathing room. I'd call every one of your issuers and ask them for their best no fee low interest long term balance transfer option and inquire about bumping your credit limit at the same time.
I still think you are in a better position to get a good BT offer from a zero balance card. If you can't get anyone to offer you a BT large enough to pay off the Juniper card, then pay off the MBNA card instead (using either a BT, or as a lastresort, those Fleet checks). Then wait a month and call MBNA and see what they will offer you. >>
Ask for a "low interest" balance transfer? Easier said than done. As you can see, I really don't have much credit available to play with.
I'd love to get a 0% APR BT card, but as I've mentioned in a few posts above, I've already been denied at least 3 times. The reasons for denial are also listed above, please read them. It would do more harm than good to keep trying, am I correct? I understand that this will just hurt my credit score more.
Call up all your issuers and tell them you're in financial distress because you've just lost your job. They will see none of their money unless they give you some breathing room in the form of lower rate, lower balance, or both. If they don't agree, hang up and try again.
Hmmm...too bad you don't have any of those AMEX cards that give rewards for carrying a balance to help negate some of that interest. Anyway, here it goes...I don't think it's worth it to use those balance transfer checks to transfer $2300 from Juniper to Fleet. The reason being the same as what SUCKISSTAPLES said and you won't be saving much anyway plus you still would have a balance on that Juniper card. Also, I wouldn't balance transfer unless the card I'm balance transferring from goes to zero. Does that make sense? Since you can't make that Juniper balance go to zero, you will still be making 5 payments to each credit card and you're in the same boat for at least another 5-6months. So, the most you can do is to keep on doing what you're doing until you can transfer that whole balance left out of Juniper.
Another suggestion is that you can balance transfer the MBNA and Citibank to your Fleet account (can you get a higher limit?) so that you would end up with only 3 credit card payments to make instead of 5 freeing up a little more money to help pay down that Juniper.
Lastly, have you tried calling Juniper to ask for a lower rate? 7 out of 10 times a company will lower your interest rate if you ask (don't remember where i saw this).
One more thing, don't close your accounts when you get them to zero balance.
<< You need to find some breathing room. I'd call every one of your issuers and ask them for their best no fee low interest long term balance transfer option and inquire about bumping your credit limit at the same time.
I still think you are in a better position to get a good BT offer from a zero balance card. If you can't get anyone to offer you a BT large enough to pay off the Juniper card, then pay off the MBNA card instead (using either a BT, or as a lastresort, those Fleet checks). Then wait a month and call MBNA and see what they will offer you. >>
Ask for a "low interest" balance transfer? Easier said than done. As you can see, I really don't have much credit available to play with.
I'd love to get a 0% APR BT card, but as I've mentioned in a few posts above, I've already been denied at least 3 times. The reasons for denial are also listed above, please read them. It would do more harm than good to keep trying, am I correct? I understand that this will just hurt my credit score more. >>
Don't try for awhile if you want to do this, for at least 6 months. Yes, it looks bad, plus you've been denied 3 times already.
<< Ask for a "low interest" balance transfer? Easier said than done. As you can see, I really don't have much credit available to play with.
I'd love to get a 0% APR BT card, but as I've mentioned in a few posts above, I've already been denied at least 3 times. The reasons for denial are also listed above, please read them. It would do more harm than good to keep trying, am I correct? I understand that this will just hurt my credit score more. >>
Don't apply for NEW cards - just call all your existing card issuers and ask them for their best deal. I'd try this before I'd do anything else. Getting any one of these accounts to a zero balance (and keeping it open) will give you some breathing room and eventually lead to more flexibility.
Disclaimer: By providing links to other sites, FatWallet.com does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to FatWallet.com.
Sign up for free today, because you don't want to miss out on any more cash back than you already have! There are currently 1,213,232 people just like you registered to earn Cash Back From FatWallet. Be the next!
Sign up to join the discussion & earn Cash Back from FatWallet:
