@Anonymous wrote:One more thing, in response to your post above about rates. I'm not sure if you are used to carrying balances, but if so you may want to reconsider your approach to credit somewhat. A few years back I used to carry balances, but after taking a good look at what I was doing and especially after reading on this forum for a while now there's no way I would ever do that again. PIF has become a way of life.
I just say this because I honestly don't even know what any of my interest rates are, nor do I care. All of my cards could raise my rates to 99.99% and it wouldn't bother me at all since I will never have a balance and pay them any interest anyway.
You seemed pretty big on interest rates and I just thought this is something you may want to consider in the future.
I partially agree with the above, with additional thought that while PIF is the ideal, there is another facet of the equation in that I would say there are some (most?) cards that are designed to be PIF (with PIF as a general rule) but there also a few exceptions where carrying a balance may make sense, on cards with extremely-low APRs. For example, it really comes down to a choice of (to reference fordguy's post above), would you rather keep regularly applying for 0% BT promo cards, knowing that the BT fee is typically going to be anywhere from 2% - 5% of the existing balance, for each balance transfer? Or, would you rather carry a balance on 1-2 low-APR cards, say anywhere from 5.xx% - 8.xx% and/or slightly higher while still in the single digits, and forgo the BT fees? You are essentially being charged either way; pick your poison: BT fees or interest charges. My personal preference is for the latter, which is why I care a great deal about APRs, IMO. Not to mention, once your 0% BT promo ends on a card, what happens to it -- is it closed out or placed in the SD indefinitely? My own philosophy for myself is that if I don't see myself as using a card for the long-term and for long-term purposes, I'm not going to app for it.
