On the surface, the balance transfer credit card offers that we receive on a weekly basis seem like a win - win situation. The way this works is that you transfer your high interest balances from other credit cards to a new credit card that offers little or no interest for a designated time. Most balance transfer credits cards offer a low interest incentive for about 6 months. Many companies will even give you 0% balance transfer for 6 months. In some ways, these credit cards can seem like a great thing, but it would be good for you to dig a little deeper to be sure that these balance transfer credit card offers don’t actually put you in a worse financial spot.
The appealing thing about balance transfer offers is that it enables you to put all or most of your credit card debt on to one card. The perks that come with the offer, such as low interest, can really help out; especially if your current credit cards come with the typical 15% or higher interest. But like any offer, when used responsibly, they can be great, but consider the downside as well. Even though this balance transfer credit card is interest free for about 6 months, this interest will go up if you don’t have the balance paid on the credit card by the time your grace period is up. If all of your debt is on one credit card, then you are paying interest on a much larger balance than you were when your debt was spread out a little. (more…)

September 26th, 2009
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