Should I BT or pay it off as is?

[Anonymous]

Ok i currently carry balances on 3 cards with a total of around 7K. All are on 0%

BOA Platinum - 5105/6200 (0% on $1005 till December, 0% on remaining till June/July)

BOA Cash Rewards - 951/2000 (0% till Februrary)

BOA BBR - 976/2000 (0% till May)

I plan on snowballing this debt by the 0% that is set to expire the soonest. I will be paying at least 350-400 a month on the CC combined.

The card im mostly worried about is the platinum since the Utilization is a little over 80% and i wont be able to get it below 50% till around March next year. Ill prob have $2000 left by the end of my 0% for the platinum. My total utilization on all cards is at 19%.

Now I have 2 BT offers on my Discover: 0% for 12 Months with 3% fee or 4.99% for 18 months with no fee. I really would rather not use it on the Discover since i would like to utiilize the 5% cashback this upcoming quarter but if I have to I will.

Should I BT $2000 from the Platinum to Discover to lower the utilization to 50% or should i just leave as is?

I dont plan on apping for anything in the next 12 months but i dont want to get AA either by BOA considering majority of my debt is on their cards.

Fico scores are at 705 currently.

[austinguy907]

What's your goal besides paying it all off?

If you could it would probably look better to payoff the 2 cards with the lowest balances and bring your score up a bit even with the other card at 80%.

Then maybe split the balance with the 4.99% Disco option just to bring down your overall utilization for scoring purposes and then maybe look into other options at that point.

It might be time to think about a cash diet until you can get to the point where you can PIF at any time on any balance.  Having the ability to wipe out a debt with a couple of clicks is the most power you can posess when it comes to CC's.  If you find yourself not liking a particular situation you can pay things off, make the threat to close, and follow thorugh if you aren't satisfied with the outcome.

If you get your score up and can't manage to pay things down then maybe look at the 0% offers with Chase Slate and Cap1 as they both offer $0/0% options to shuffle things around.

[Anonymous]

---

@austinguy907 wrote:

What's your goal besides paying it all off?

If you could it would probably look better to payoff the 2 cards with the lowest balances and bring your score up a bit even with the other card at 80%.

Then maybe split the balance with the 4.99% Disco option just to bring down your overall utilization for scoring purposes and then maybe look into other options at that point.

It might be time to think about a cash diet until you can get to the point where you can PIF at any time on any balance.  Having the ability to wipe out a debt with a couple of clicks is the most power you can posess when it comes to CC's.  If you find yourself not liking a particular situation you can pay things off, make the threat to close, and follow thorugh if you aren't satisfied with the outcome.

If you get your score up and can't manage to pay things down then maybe look at the 0% offers with Chase Slate and Cap1 as they both offer $0/0% options to shuffle things around.

---

Dont really have a specific goal right now, i just want to get out of CC debt ASAP.

If I focus primarily on the 2 lowest cards, i wouldnt be able to pay off the 0% due in december on the platinum. I suppose i could just BT what wouldnt be paid off by December however.

I also have a 0% for 14 months with 3% fee on Citi / Aadvantage that i have till October to utilize.

Thanks!

[austinguy907]

The reason I say go with the two lowest balances is because once they're paid off you have those min payments to apply towards the bigger balance and from a scoring perspective the less amount of accounts reporting a balance puts you in a better position if you choose to consolidate to a new card w/ a 18-21 month period.

Being hooked on the idea of 0% but paying 3% up front ($5K * .03 = $150) to move it to Citi or anyone else tends to be a bit more than say 13.74% /12 = 1.145%/mo @ $5K = $57.25/mo interest.  So, you have 3 months before being par with the transfer fee.  

Now if you did the Disco 4.99% route it's more economical and still motivating as you pay it down.  .00415%/mo ($20.75/mo interest) and you're not paying that $150 premium up front to go to Citi.  Still have that carrot on the stick to chase after for interest but, hey, you could cut your Starbucks once a week to make up for it.

Sometimes that interest line on the statement can be a real motivator for paying things down quicker than being able to rest easy in the hammock with a 0% period and then find yourself scurrying around 12-18 months later because you're still not paid off and actually increased your balances due to still using the CC's.

Obviously 0% isn't free money when they come to collect after the intro period is up.  They tempt us into spending larger than normal amounts with the shiny little 0% offers and then hope we can't pay them off in time to avoid charges when things expire.  For instance... I picked up 3 cards a week or two ago and 2 of them had 0% rates for at least 12 months.  I've been PIF for so long now it's hard to get into that mode of letting a balance sit there for any period of time.  Sure, if something big came up like HVAC ($5K) or something else significant then it's a possibility to let it sit there for a couple of months instead of PIF on it.  

I still find it better to keep cash on hand and get my CU to pay me 2.5% on it each month than to rack up debt.  It's nice to have the bank paying me each month instead of the other way around and if I keep a higher balance in there then it's about $100/mo they're paying to borrow my money.  So, yes, paying things down ASAP is a priority to make your money work for you instead of you working for the CCC's to make payments.

[NRB525]

Just pay them off in place. They all have no additional interest or fee cost until the expiration of each promotion period, so you are not going to incur any fees by paying the items in place.

The Discover offer will be there when these expire. At that time, you want to consider BT to Discover, pay the 3% fee if you are going to use the full 12 months.

The other alternative as these expire, is to BT them over to Discover on the 4.99% no fee offer, pay them in Discover for a short time, then BT them back to BOA, if the BOA card has an offer. If you will be getting BofA new BT offers, you should start getting those in the mail.

However, with those high utilization percentages on BofA, it is possible they are not going to send you BT offers right now. Do you get BofA transfer offers on the three cards now?

You can also call Discover to ask about a 0% APR offer on purchases. This is fairly common, runs for 12 months. Be advised (as I just found out) that once you take the 0% on Purchases offer, you have to wait 6 months after the 12-month 0% on Purchases expires, before you are eligible to ask again for a 0% on Purchases. So I would wait to ask for that, until just before you think you may BT an amount onto the Discover card. That allows you to both BT and swipe on the Discover.

[CreditInspired]

OP,

Two statements caught my attention:

(1) I really would rather not use Discover BT since i would like to utiilize the 5% cashback this upcoming quarter but if I have to I will.

(2) I have no specific goal, I just want to get out of CC debt.

IMHO, you can't have it both ways. So here is my suggestion at least until you get that 80% UT card down to <30%.  STOP SPENDING!  Believe me when I say this. We've all been there at one time or another and always in the end, we have to pay the piper. It's too easy to just keep shifting balances from one card to another without really reducing the debt that one created. So let's take the bull by the horn and do it sooner rather than later. I agree with NPR -- Just pay them off in place. Because ultimately, what will most likely happen after you BT, you'll subconsciously, albeit unfortunately, believe you have extra purchasing power and continue to charge purchases on the paid off cards. Don't do it.

Commit to a plan today to pay these CC debts down and off. The ultimate goal is to payoff all CCs except one to $0 and then pay that one down to <9% UT.

Good luck to you.

[Anonymous]

---

@NRB525 wrote:

Just pay them off in place. They all have no additional interest or fee cost until the expiration of each promotion period, so you are not going to incur any fees by paying the items in place.

The Discover offer will be there when these expire. At that time, you want to consider BT to Discover, pay the 3% fee if you are going to use the full 12 months.

The other alternative as these expire, is to BT them over to Discover on the 4.99% no fee offer, pay them in Discover for a short time, then BT them back to BOA, if the BOA card has an offer. If you will be getting BofA new BT offers, you should start getting those in the mail.

However, with those high utilization percentages on BofA, it is possible they are not going to send you BT offers right now. Do you get BofA transfer offers on the three cards now?

You can also call Discover to ask about a 0% APR offer on purchases. This is fairly common, runs for 12 months. Be advised (as I just found out) that once you take the 0% on Purchases offer, you have to wait 6 months after the 12-month 0% on Purchases expires, before you are eligible to ask again for a 0% on Purchases. So I would wait to ask for that, until just before you think you may BT an amount onto the Discover card. That allows you to both BT and swipe on the Discover.

---

Thanks. i will just pay them as is and then BT when one of the offers expires.

Currently i only get offers on one card, the platinum. I think thats mainly because my balances on the other 2 have been so high before i paid them down below 50%.

What order should I pay them? Should I pay off the 2 lower balances to free up those payments first and then start on the larger balance or vice versa?

Thanks everyone for your help!