What are your experiences with the best rates on credit cards right?

[Anonymous]

I have re-established credit and have very low balances on my cards but the rates aren't all that desireable.  Now that I have good ficos I want to get a card with a decent fixed rate, and maybe a really good balance transfer rate in case I would want to consider clearing the little balances from the two cards I have small balances on.  Any sugeestions on good card companies to apply for right now?

Thanks in advance for you assitance and expertise!

[haulingthescoreup]

If you have small balances, you'd do much better to pay them off yourself. Having lots of little balances on low-CL cards won't look good to the better banks. Consider using the snowball approach, where you pay minimums or a bit over on all cards but the one with the lowest balance. When it's paid off, take the amount you were paying on that one and add it to what you were paying on the card with the next lowest balance, and so forth. It will also help your scores to have most cards reporting $0 balances, and that will get you better deals on future credit apps as well.

But other than that, I'd recommend going with a credit union. The banks seem to be universally losing their minds in preparation for the bulk of the Credit Card Act taking effect in February. Rewards programs are being dumped, CL's are being slashed, bank card APR's are as bad as those of First Premier and friends.

My recommendation is that no one should apply for much of anything until after next February. Let's see who's left standing among the smoking ruins.

[Anonymous]

Fixed rate cards are pretty much a gone,  There are a couple still being offered but you'll need very good credit to get one,  Right now you'd be hard pressed to get an interest rate under 10% from a bank,  US Bank is offering about the best terms for a new card currently, If you qualify,,,

A few credit unions offer variable APR cards under 10%, but as you can tell, the race is on by the credit card issuers to rate jack as much as they can prior to the credit card reform being forced on them so there is no guarantee they wont change their terms prior to February,,  

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the feedback.  I don't have alot of little balances though.   All my cards are at 0 balances except 2.  One has a balance of $699 and the other $850.  I always make more than the minimum payments, so that's not a problem.  I just thought If I could get one card with a decent rate and a say 1 year 0% balance transfer I could combine my payments and pay the two off even faster.  I don't really have a desire to use credit cards, and as you stated, I really want to wait until Febreuary to see what is going to happen to credit cards as we know.  My concern was becasue both of my credit cards sent notices out stating there were jacking rates up in early 2010 and I wanted to avoid that.  As it stands, I only pay $15 in finace charges bewteen both cards a month so that's outstanding I think.  I'll continue to make  to $50 payments a month I make on each and maybe by tax season I'll ppay them off and maybe credit cards will be giving out better offers again!

Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

Wow, I've heard this a couple of times now, that I should look at a credit union card.  Do they typically require you to open accounts with them as well?

[creditwherecreditisdue]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the feedback.  I don't have alot of little balances though.   All my cards are at 0 balances except 2.  One has a balance of $699 and the other $850.  I always make more than the minimum payments, so that's not a problem.  I just thought If I could get one card with a decent rate and a say 1 year 0% balance transfer I could combine my payments and pay the two off even faster.  I don't really have a desire to use credit cards, and as you stated, I really want to wait until Febreuary to see what is going to happen to credit cards as we know.  My concern was becasue both of my credit cards sent notices out stating there were jacking rates up in early 2010 and I wanted to avoid that.  As it stands, I only pay $15 in finace charges bewteen both cards a month so that's outstanding I think.  I'll continue to make  to $50 payments a month I make on each and maybe by tax season I'll ppay them off and maybe credit cards will be giving out better offers again!

Thanks again.

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Very few banks are giving one year intro promo's any more. You might get nine months. Don't know your credit details so I can't advise further.

[haulingthescoreup]

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lyrical123 wrote:
Wow, I've heard this a couple of times now, that I should look at a credit union card.  Do they typically require you to open accounts with them as well?

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You qualify for a credit union by purchasing a "share", which is typically worth $5. So essentially, you have a savings account for $5 which you can't use. Some CU's require more, maybe $50 instead. But you don't generally have to move your checking and savings over, although many people wind up doing so, as their customer service is generally better and their fees are generally lower.