Do I take the 0% offer?

[Anonymous]

Background:

26 yrs old.  Credit Score about a month or so ago was 744 or so, after buying a condo.

I have 4 credit cards presently.   Before buying my house, I had just gotten my credit card debt paid down to about $1200 total, carrying a balance within the util range. 

Anyway, things were going fine and then over the last 4 weeks, my HVAC went out and had to be totally replaced, my resonator on my car blew out, a wheel bearring blew out, 60k mile car service had to be done, car insurance quarterly premium came due, along with some other pricey mishaps. 

In all, I went from being on top of my debt to almost back where I started.  I currently have about $5100 in card debt.  I can make my payments, and I'm paying the debt back down, but I am probably paying right around $50 a month in interest.

I got a "pre-approved" offer for a card with 0% until July 2011.  Transfer fee of 3%.  After that the APR goes to 13%, which is the same as what I'm paying on my high balance card currently.  So essentially 11 months of no interest.  If I'm paying 40 or 50 a month in interest right now, then taking the 0% pays for the transfer fee pretty quickly, no?

Would adding the card damage my credit score enough for this to not be worth it?

[Woolfman]

In my opinion , getting out of debt and saving money is more important than a hit on your credit score. Adding that much debt is going to hit your score too . I say go for it. 50 a month adds up quick!

[haulingthescoreup]

The 3% BT fee, if uncapped, works out to the equivalent of a little bit over 3% APR, since this is an 11-month loan. (Sorta, kinda --there might be a few dollars different, but that's basically it.)

If you BT $5,100, and add in the fee of $153, that's going to work out to around $480/ month, again plus or minus a few dollars. (I don't have my handy interest calculator lying around, lol.) If paying $480/ month is better than what you're paying now, it sounds like it makes sense to me, especially knowing that you'll be out from under by next July.

If you can pay more than $480, that's even better. Oh, and your minimum payment will be less that this. They won't mind a bit if you don't pay it off before the offer ends and have to start paying interest again.

[marty56]

I just went through that in June when I series of mother nature caused disaters  generate about 7k of CC debt.  Most of it went to a new AC unit which I got 1 year 0% financing.  LOL I am afarid to look at my scores now but as I have said before, don't be FICO score poor.

[Uborrow-Upay]

I agree with the previous posters.  Think with your wallet on this one.  

Don't worry about your credit score...this is why you have nurtured it in the first place, so you can borrow money (and at reasonable rates) when you need to do so...like now.

Go for it, tweakxc03!