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So i have 2 new cards i recently obtained and i have bought things on them. I am curious about what the smart financial move is in my situation. Both cards have promotional APRs until March next year. Do i go ahead and pay the card off in full or should i pay the minimum and let my money grow in the time that i have 0 APR?
I do both.....the 0% APR is there for you to use. FYI...Don't max it out and only pay the minimum due; otherwise take advantage of what is given to you.
@Anonymous wrote:So i have 2 new cards i recently obtained and i have bought things on them. I am curious about what the smart financial move is in my situation. Both cards have promotional APRs until March next year. Do i go ahead and pay the card off in full or should i pay the minimum and let my money grow in the time that i have 0 APR?
Not enough info. What's your utilization like? How many balances do you have reporting? Are you applying for any other credit before the intro offer runs out? Run the numbers and compare what you'd accumulate versus paying in full now. Are you sure you'll be in proper financial shape to pay off the balance by the end of the intro offer?
@takeshi74 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:So i have 2 new cards i recently obtained and i have bought things on them. I am curious about what the smart financial move is in my situation. Both cards have promotional APRs until March next year. Do i go ahead and pay the card off in full or should i pay the minimum and let my money grow in the time that i have 0 APR?
Not enough info. What's your utilization like? How many balances do you have reporting? Are you applying for any other credit before the intro offer runs out? Run the numbers and compare what you'd accumulate versus paying in full now. Are you sure you'll be in proper financial shape to pay off the balance by the end of the intro offer?
+1
and separately, I disagree with "pay just the minimum" because while this promo APR makes carrying a balance less expensive, one still wants to present a well funded profile to the card company. You can carry a balance, continue to make charges, but then reach a point where you are paying almost all the monthly new charges, so it really is just carrying a balance, not parking a balance and maintaining it with minimum payments.
Same here... Taking advantage of a 0% promo at Lowes to put new flooring in the house. Purchase was only about 30% of CL but still making more than min payments.
@NRB525 wrote:
@takeshi74 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:So i have 2 new cards i recently obtained and i have bought things on them. I am curious about what the smart financial move is in my situation. Both cards have promotional APRs until March next year. Do i go ahead and pay the card off in full or should i pay the minimum and let my money grow in the time that i have 0 APR?
Not enough info. What's your utilization like? How many balances do you have reporting? Are you applying for any other credit before the intro offer runs out? Run the numbers and compare what you'd accumulate versus paying in full now. Are you sure you'll be in proper financial shape to pay off the balance by the end of the intro offer?
+1
and separately, I disagree with "pay just the minimum" because while this promo APR makes carrying a balance less expensive, one still wants to present a well funded profile to the card company. You can carry a balance, continue to make charges, but then reach a point where you are paying almost all the monthly new charges, so it really is just carrying a balance, not parking a balance and maintaining it with minimum payments.
Whenever I take advantage of promo offers, I divide the balance to pay it off 1 month before the promo is over. By doing it this way, you ensure that you really can afford to pay off the promo because it's part of your budget. That way unforeseen expenses don't trip you up.
If you don't need to apply for anything soon, don't fret over utilization. Since utilization has no memory don't sweat over it, but don't go over 50%. There has been too many threads about cards being canceled to chance it.
My utilization is about 60% and im not sure if it matters but the card that has that utilization is with my bank and i have more than 10x the amount of funds in checking+savings combined.
So my plan is as you guys suggested i'm going to divide it up so it'll be paid off right the month before the promo expires.
Seems to me that the CC companies want you to use the card and make large payments each month. But I try to never let an individual card go over 50% utilitzation. And then I always make a minimum payment between 5% and 10% of the balance if I want to carry a balance. I think that sending in a minimum payment is probably a red flag.
Interest rates in savings accounts are so bad these days that my personal feeling is there's no real reason to hold onto the money. Even at 1% which at most online banks is about as high as you'll find, unless you have the limit to build up a balance over 12K, you'll be making less than a dollar a month on it. Of course if you're not planning to apply for credit in the next month there's no real reason to not hold onto it either and make whatever cents you make, but it won't be a life-changer.