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Does anyone know of a good resource to compare two credit cards for a balance transfer? I'm trying to see which would be better - 0% APR for X months with a Y% transfer fee vs Z% APR with no transfer fee.
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Jan 27, 2015 17:10
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| # ? May 12, 2024 05:37 |
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For a short period ignoring the effects of compound interest should be pretty minimal, so you can take Z and divide by the percentage of the year (X divided by 12). The other quick option would be to pull up any compound interest calculator and just calculate the two values.
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Jan 27, 2015 17:32
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The Mandingo posted:Does anyone know of a good resource to compare two credit cards for a balance transfer? I'm trying to see which would be better - 0% APR for X months with a Y% transfer fee vs Z% APR with no transfer fee. As a rule of thumb, the 0% APR is almost always better. Here's a quick way to see if it's hella obvious: is the 0% APR for more than a year? Is the balance transfer fee less than the APR on the other card? If "yes" to both (and it usually is "yes" to both), then the 0% APR card is better.
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Jan 27, 2015 18:15
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More relevant to this thread, why do you have a credit card balance at all and what are you doing to pay it off faster?
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Jan 27, 2015 18:27
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The Mandingo posted:Does anyone know of a good resource to compare two credit cards for a balance transfer? I'm trying to see which would be better - 0% APR for X months with a Y% transfer fee vs Z% APR with no transfer fee. One of the dangers with 0% is you think you actually accomplished something when you really just moved around the problem. The other danger is when you think about it, credit cards are in the business of making money, they have highly sophisticated marketing departments, highly sophisticated algorithms, and they have figured out how to use them to make untold billions of dollars, and they have figured out how to make money lending it at 0%. They know that a certain significant percentage will have a less than 100% on time payment history for whatever reason, and no one ever thinks that will be them. But one of their business models is to start charging these people 20%, 25%, 30% when they screw up. And it can be easy to for people to screw it up because something else in our brains gets tripped up when we see 0% and it gets equated as "free", and you get lazy about paying it off. I don't care if you go for 0% or not. If you are aware of the pitfalls, you might save a bit of interest and pay it off slightly faster. But the math problem you are asking, while it can be done and there are online calculators that can answer it for you, is nearly irreverent if you are serious about digging hard into these cards. To answer the question you asked, I found this using the Google, so you can give it a shot http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/credit-cards/balance-transfer-calculator.aspx
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Jan 27, 2015 20:00
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Bank of America pissed me off with their customer service a few weeks ago so I started the process of finding a credit union to switch to, and one of the things offered when we opened an account with our new CU was a credit card with 0% balance transfer fee but immediate APR. I declined at the time and decided to do some research on the best way to pay everything off. I found a couple of cards and wanted to compare them, but today over lunch a coworker suggested I look at the Chase Slate card. I should qualify for it and it offers 0% APR on balance transfers for 15 months, with a 0% fee for transfers made in the first 60 days. I have a credit card balance because I've been the only income while my wife is in school, and now that we don't have a tuition bill due every semester we will have some disposable income to start attacking our debts. Our student loan rates and my car note are both very low, so we're attacking the higher interest rate credit cards first. The total balance is pretty low ($1800) so I'm not worried about just moving around the problem. We should be able to pay off the card in a few months.
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Jan 27, 2015 21:05
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The Mandingo posted:Bank of America pissed me off with their customer service a few weeks ago so I started the process of finding a credit union to switch to, and one of the things offered when we opened an account with our new CU was a credit card with 0% balance transfer fee but immediate APR. I declined at the time and decided to do some research on the best way to pay everything off. I found a couple of cards and wanted to compare them, but today over lunch a coworker suggested I look at the Chase Slate card. I should qualify for it and it offers 0% APR on balance transfers for 15 months, with a 0% fee for transfers made in the first 60 days. I have a credit card balance because I've been the only income while my wife is in school, and now that we don't have a tuition bill due every semester we will have some disposable income to start attacking our debts. Our student loan rates and my car note are both very low, so we're attacking the higher interest rate credit cards first. The total balance is pretty low ($1800) so I'm not worried about just moving around the problem. We should be able to pay off the card in a few months. Good luck and godspeed to you if you think Chase customer service is any different than Bank of America customer service. What are your total debts? Credit card, car loan, student loans? Any other debts you owe?
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Jan 28, 2015 01:01
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Also, if you want to see why going "I solved my debt with a 0% APR BT" is a bad mindset, look at Slow Motion's thread.
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Jan 28, 2015 03:03
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I don't own a CC at the moment, but when I did I called every six months to request a limit increase. Every time, I was approved automatically for a $500 bump without speaking to a rep. After a few years I felt like at 21 I was carrying around a card with an insane limit, but it was the advice Dave Ramsey had at the time. Do y'all do this? If (and I know that's an important 'if') you never plan to carry a balance on the card, what's the downside?
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Jan 28, 2015 07:06
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Aliquid posted:I don't own a CC at the moment, but when I did I called every six months to request a limit increase. Every time, I was approved automatically for a $500 bump without speaking to a rep. After a few years I felt like at 21 I was carrying around a card with an insane limit, but it was the advice Dave Ramsey had at the time. Do y'all do this? If (and I know that's an important 'if') you never plan to carry a balance on the card, what's the downside? You're going to hurt your credit score by repeatedly asking for limit increases, and adding $500 to the limit at a time won't change your utilization % very much.
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Jan 28, 2015 09:31
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blah_blah posted:You're going to hurt your credit score by repeatedly asking for limit increases, and adding $500 to the limit at a time won't change your utilization % very much. What, no you won't. Ask for limit increases all you want, because there are very few lenders where limit increases require a hard pull without them telling you. If they are telling you they need to pull your credit, that's a different story, but automated approvals are almost universally based on soft pulls and getting the limit increased regularly is a good idea.
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Jan 28, 2015 14:58
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Aliquid posted:I don't own a CC at the moment, but when I did I called every six months to request a limit increase. Every time, I was approved automatically for a $500 bump without speaking to a rep. After a few years I felt like at 21 I was carrying around a card with an insane limit, but it was the advice Dave Ramsey had at the time. Do y'all do this? If (and I know that's an important 'if') you never plan to carry a balance on the card, what's the downside? What year was this?
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Jan 28, 2015 15:17
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Its not going to hurt to get your limit increased, but it definitely has large diminishing returns. I mean, if you have 1 card with a $1000 limit, getting that to $5000 will make a huge difference. If you have 5 cards with limits totaling $40000 and you end up with a $50000 limit, you're probably talking about a single digit score change, if at all. Even $20k to $25k is not that impactful.
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Jan 28, 2015 15:22
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Aliquid posted:After a few years I felt like at 21 I was carrying around a card with an insane limit, but it was the advice Dave Ramsey had at the time. Do y'all do this? When did Dave Ramsey ever advocate carryig a high limit credit card? That sounds more like Size Orman to me. No I don't do it because I have emergency funds.
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Jan 28, 2015 15:43
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MrKatharsis posted:When did Dave Ramsey ever advocate carryig a high limit credit card? That sounds more like Size Orman to me. Dave Ramsey believes Credit Cards are Satan's plastic. For his intended audience this is good. His intended audience can't handle their spending. I doubt he would recommend asking for a higher limit.
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Jan 28, 2015 16:06
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Aliquid posted:I don't own a CC at the moment, but when I did I called every six months to request a limit increase. Every time, I was approved automatically for a $500 bump without speaking to a rep. After a few years I felt like at 21 I was carrying around a card with an insane limit, but it was the advice Dave Ramsey had at the time. Do y'all do this? If (and I know that's an important 'if') you never plan to carry a balance on the card, what's the downside? I started doing this after I had a 3 week hotel stay that I had the money for, but I wanted to go through a credit card for the sweet cash-back, but I didn't have a high enough limit. If you're increasing the limit but not considering that "hey free money!", then you're fine and IMO it helps to have a high-limit card to take advantage of opportunities to get rewards/cash-back.
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Jan 28, 2015 18:22
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If you're not planning on carrying a balance anyway (as you shouldn't) then you can prepay your credit card to make purchases beyond your credit limit. For example, if your credit limit is $1000 and you want to make a $1500 purchase you could prepay anywhere from $500-1500 onto your card and THEN make the purchase.
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Jan 28, 2015 18:59
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SiGmA_X posted:What year was this? 2006  Ramsey's advice about ratcheting up the credit limit was in opposition to a second card, and to only request small increases years in advance instead of big chunks like $2-3000 at a time so you'll have it when you'd need it. edit: it's weird, the advice doesn't sound like Ramsey, I'm familiar with his MO. I could have sworn it was him; I've never really listened thoroughly to many other pop advisers. i say swears online fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Jan 28, 2015 |
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Jan 28, 2015 19:54
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That sounds like Orman to me. Dave Ramsey is nothing if not consistent and he has never advocated using plastic as an emergency fund.
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Jan 29, 2015 02:11
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I have a bank account and credit card with Bank of America, and, seeing how Bank of America is a lovely company, I don't really want to have a relationship with them in any capacity anymore. I'm in the process of opening an account with a local credit union and getting a new credit card through them. Once I'm done with all of that, I'd like to entirely close my BofA account and cancel the credit card. Is this going to be (very) bad for my credit? If so, is there anything I can do about it? I might be willing to take a minor credit score hit if it means I don't have to deal with BofA at all anymore. I've had the card for about 7 years .
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Jan 29, 2015 08:18
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Hyper-Urho-Kekkonen posted:I have a bank account and credit card with Bank of America, and, seeing how Bank of America is a lovely company, I don't really want to have a relationship with them in any capacity anymore. I'm in the process of opening an account with a local credit union and getting a new credit card through them. Once I'm done with all of that, I'd like to entirely close my BofA account and cancel the credit card. Is this going to be (very) bad for my credit? If so, is there anything I can do about it? I might be willing to take a minor credit score hit if it means I don't have to deal with BofA at all anymore. I've had the card for about 7 years . Nah, it shouldn't be a big deal.
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Jan 29, 2015 12:17
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Hyper-Urho-Kekkonen posted:I have a bank account and credit card with Bank of America, and, seeing how Bank of America is a lovely company, I don't really want to have a relationship with them in any capacity anymore. I'm in the process of opening an account with a local credit union and getting a new credit card through them. Once I'm done with all of that, I'd like to entirely close my BofA account and cancel the credit card. Is this going to be (very) bad for my credit? If so, is there anything I can do about it? I might be willing to take a minor credit score hit if it means I don't have to deal with BofA at all anymore. I've had the card for about 7 years . What large purchases in the next months are you contemplating? You'll get a small hit from the hard pull, and your utilization might go up when your pool of available credit gets smaller. But what does it matter? CREDIT SCORE IS NOT A VIDEO GAME.
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Jan 29, 2015 14:38
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El_Elegante posted:What large purchases in the next months are you contemplating? You'll get a small hit from the hard pull, and your utilization might go up when your pool of available credit gets smaller. If it isn't a video game, why does it have a score then? 
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Jan 30, 2015 01:35
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Bisty Q. posted:If it isn't a video game, why does it have a score then? it's more like a Xbox Gold achievement
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Jan 30, 2015 01:50
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Could I use PayPal to pay off an overseas credit card? I'd attach my new Canadian credit card to my PayPal and my old Aussie credit card as well, then take money from my Canadian account and then chuck it into my Aussie cc?
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Jan 31, 2015 17:27
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Nierbo posted:Could I use PayPal to pay off an overseas credit card? No, PayPal doesn't work that way.
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Jan 31, 2015 21:04
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Ah drat. Okay thanks.
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Jan 31, 2015 22:25
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I feel really proud of myself! I'm 26 and recently became interested in taking control of my personal finances. This is my situation in 2015: - One paycheck away from paying off my credit card - Moved back in with my parents to save money - $600 emergency fund! Everyone has to start somewhere, right? - Increased my 401k deposit to 10% of my paycheck, with a company match of 3% (also as a note-- I purposely have a big 401k deposit since I have a pretty bad impulse spending problem and I want to make sure as much money is put into retirement savings). - Set up a biweekly reminder on my bank (timed to match my pay day) to move $30 over into my roth IRA. I'm slowly going to increase this as the year goes on and I get more used to saving. - I filed my taxes with turbo tax and I'm getting a $800 refund! I'm still deciding what I want to do. Maybe put half of it in emergency savings and the other half in my my roth IRA? - I've been doing a great job of keeping track of my travel points, credit card points, etc so they don't expire. I feel so excited about finally getting control of my financial situation.
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Feb 1, 2015 03:26
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That is excellent! Use the tax refund to finish off the credit card, then split the rest like you suggested. Keep up the good work. What's your next major financial goal, do you think? Moving to your own place? By the way, credit card points are way less important than the rest of that stuff, so if they're a pain to keep track of then don't worry so much about it.
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Feb 1, 2015 03:32
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legsarerequired posted:- I filed my taxes with turbo tax and I'm getting a $800 refund! Change your # of allowances on your W4 so you get that money during the course of the year and *not* during tax time: http://theflounce.com/tax-withholding-get-paycheck/ You get the money either way - but why loan the government $800 for a year without it earning interest?
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Feb 1, 2015 03:43
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EugeneJ posted:You get the money either way - but why loan the government $800 for a year without it earning interest? Anybody who says this should be required to calculate the dollar amount of the interest in question
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Feb 1, 2015 04:39
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It's a fine line IMO but overpaying 800 for a few months is better than owing the penalties if you're not paying enough into the system.
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Feb 1, 2015 04:46
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I overpay by $1000-2000 every year and it is just not a big deal.
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Feb 1, 2015 04:56
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We overpaid by $7k this year by accident. Happens. v v
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Feb 1, 2015 05:12
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Rurutia posted:We overpaid by $7k this year by accident. Happens. v Crazy farm people, teach me your ways!!
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Feb 1, 2015 05:17
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I intentionally overpay as a method of forced saving.
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Feb 1, 2015 05:28
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El_Elegante posted:I intentionally overpay as a method of forced saving. A legitimate financial strategy!
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Feb 1, 2015 05:30
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slap me silly posted:Crazy farm people, teach me your ways!! Nah, it's case we got married at the end of the year but didn't change our W4's in the beginning in case it fell through for some reason.
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Feb 1, 2015 06:15
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slap me silly posted:A legitimate financial strategy! Until you get it back all at once as a a fat refund check, which you invest in some truck equity.
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Feb 1, 2015 08:11
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| # ? May 12, 2024 05:37 |
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Rurutia posted:Nah, it's case we got married at the end of the year but didn't change our W4's in the beginning in case it fell through for some reason.
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Feb 1, 2015 08:32
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