Balance Transfer to Pay off CC

[tring2getAhead]

First time poster, trying to pay down debt and save.

My question is: I have a balance transfer offer for 4.99% for the life of the loan. What I would like to do is use this balance transfer to pay off the credit card company offering the balance transfer, thereby having a fixed rate of 4.99% for the life of the loan as opposed to the variable 14.99% I currently have.

The problem is when things are dated and take effect into the account; if the balance transfer shows up as debit first then the payment I would have done nothing since the debit is equal to the credit.

Is there a way to make this work, or am I making it more complicated and should just hunker down and pay down my debt?

[ukey]

Would like to offer some opinions over getting a loan to pay off credit card debts.

When my brother did a balance transfer to a revolving line of credit loan, he only looked at the interest that he could save, and neglected to see if he could make the repayment in the first place. He couldn't and ended up owing double what he originally owed.

I'd suggest that you check out the monthly repayments first and see if the payment is something you could reasonably pay off on a monthly basis. I'd suggest 3% of the loan amount regardless of the length of loan. If you could, save or invest the difference consistently.

Good luck!!!

[neatdesign]

First time poster, trying to pay down debt and save.

My question is: I have a balance transfer offer for 4.99% for the life of the loan. What I would like to do is use this balance transfer to pay off the credit card company offering the balance transfer, thereby having a fixed rate of 4.99% for the life of the loan as opposed to the variable 14.99% I currently have.

The problem is when things are dated and take effect into the account; if the balance transfer shows up as debit first then the payment I would have done nothing since the debit is equal to the credit.

Is there a way to make this work, or am I making it more complicated and should just hunker down and pay down my debt?

The way I read it, this is what you'd like to do:

You have a credit card account with a balance on it at 14.99% APR. This credit card account currently has a BT offer for 4.99% APR. You're thinking that you can do the balance transfer for the amount of the current balance (which is at 14.99%) and then turn around and use the BT funds to pay off the SAME account, so that your balance is no longer at 14.99% but rather the BT rate of 4.99%. Have I got that right?

If so, then that plan isn't possible. All you will do is end up exactly where you started -- with a balance at 14.99%.

~ Jenney

[noppenbd]

First time poster, trying to pay down debt and save.

My question is: I have a balance transfer offer for 4.99% for the life of the loan. What I would like to do is use this balance transfer to pay off the credit card company offering the balance transfer, thereby having a fixed rate of 4.99% for the life of the loan as opposed to the variable 14.99% I currently have.

The problem is when things are dated and take effect into the account; if the balance transfer shows up as debit first then the payment I would have done nothing since the debit is equal to the credit.

Is there a way to make this work, or am I making it more complicated and should just hunker down and pay down my debt?

You probably need a 2nd credit card to make this work. First transfer the existing balance to the 2nd card (paying a BT fee). Then transfer back to the first card (paying a 2nd BT fee). If you have the 2nd card, check the BT fees on both cards to see if it's worth it. At 14.99% APR it might be. Also, check out Penfed. They currently have a 2.99% BT offer for the life of the transfer (BT fee capped at $100). If you can get this card you could be even better off. Probably need good credit to get it, and you'll need to pay $20 one time to join NMFA to get into Penfed.

https://www.penfed.org

[neatdesign]

You probably need a 2nd credit card to make this work. First transfer the existing balance to the 2nd card (paying a BT fee). Then transfer back to the first card (paying a 2nd BT fee). If you have the 2nd card, check the BT fees on both cards to see if it's worth it. At 14.99% APR it might be.

This will ONLY be advantageous if the balance on Card #1 is transferred to a card with a $0 balance. If the balance on Card #1 is transferred to Card #2, and then transferred BACK to Card #1, Card #2 has to have a $0 balance. Otherwise you're mixing APR buckets (purchase APR, balance transfer APR, etc) and that can make it take much, much longer to pay off the existing balance on Card #2.

~ Jenney

[arthurb999]

You can't transfer the balance of the card to the same card...

[boosami]

Read the fine print. Most BT offers don't allow you to transfer from the same card, or sometimes they won't allow a transfer to/from the same CC company.

[Runaway Finances]

I have had clients who have done this. Look out for one thing....read to see if you are EVER late on a payment the interest rate jumps to a significantly higher rate. I had a client that was late on a payment and his rate went from 4.99% to 14.99% and it cannot be reduced back down.