I just got an offer from one of my credit cards to do a balance transfer. They are offering me a 5.9% interest rate until January 2010 and then it goes to the purchase rate after that.
I have decided to transfer a large portion of another card that I have which has a MUCH higher rate over to this card. Even with the balance transfer fees (which I already calculated) I will end up saving money on this balance over the upcoming months by making the balance transfer.
This came at a great time for me I think because I have been trying to get some of my other rates lowered. I have not had much success so far and have been told by the customer service reps to call back in a couple of months.
When I take advantage of this balance transfer (which will be paid off before the January 2010 deadline) I will be saving LOTS of money in interest charges because of the much lower rate on this card.
The other good thing about it is that with the balance I am transferring over I will have just a small amount on the second card and I can reap the psychological benefit of having one credit card paid off in full in a few months.
I am thinking that my credit report will take a hit for the available credit on one card being very low after the balance transfer is done. However this will (should?) be adjusted when the other card is paid off in a couple of months so that will be a positive on my credit report.
Even if your credit score takes a dip, it will come right back up as you pay off all of the credit cards, so it doesn’t really matter in the long run. I went through the same thing.
Why don’t you apply for the 0% balance transfer cards and move all your debt there instead? 5.9% is lower than the typical 25% but it doesn’t beat 0% at all!
I did try some 0% cards but got rejected because my credit score was not high enough. It was in the mid 600s which i guess was too low for the 0% cards.
Which cards did you get rejected by? Did you make sure they were from different credit card companies?