Has anyone made money off their CC??? Investing their O% apr for a year in the bank? LOL

[Anonymous]

That what the banks count on when they lend you the money. While some of us make out with some extra cash the people that mess up pay dearly. Very profitable for the banks.

Example (minimum payment depends on bank)
(as balance goes down so does profit, this is a rough est)

If you put this money in to a savings account at 5% int FDIC CD.

$20,000 cc loan at 0% int,
$0 interest/$200 per month payment = $200 month payment.
$83 profit per month.

if you are late: (like with Citibank)
$20,000 cc loan at 32.4% int,
$540 interest/$200 per month/$30 late fee = $770 month payment.
$540_loss-$83_profit=$457 loss per month.

To take out the loan you probably paid a transfer fee of $75-$100.
So you gamble a profit of $83 per month with the risk of loosing $457 per month.

It does work, but it is not for the inexperienced!

[Anonymous]

I just wanted to say thanks for taking me back to 1975 with your screen name. Diggum' Frog ruled.

[Anonymous]

Mercyme, I don't think she was quite playing the same game as I am playing.  Or, atleast, she isn't very good at it.

Anyway, my suggestion to anyone interested in playing is to make sure you know what the transfer fee is.  They could kill you on that alone.  That's why, if you get a "no transfer fee" offer, that obviously would be the best one to play with.

Also, look into the online savings accounts that are popping up left and right.  I'd guess the median APY is 5.05% currently.  It's been that way for quite some time.

Here's a site to compare:

http://www.emoneycentral.com/

The reason I'd go this route, over a CD, is because you can pull your money out whenever you need it.  ilovepizza, I think, gave an example of the positives and negatives using a CD, which locks in your money for a set amount of time.  IF YOU HAVE A LATE, that could potentially really hurt you in playing this game, especially if it was a 1 year offer and you bought a 1 year CD and you did this in the 1st or 2nd month.  Ouch.

However, if you unfortunately don't play the game well, but your money is in a savings account, you take out your borrowed money and pay back the card.  That way you may only be out the transfer fee (hopefully) at worse.

Again, you have to read your "0% offers" very closely, all the mice type.  If you don't understand something, call the card.  A lot of the wording is very....un-intuitive or misleading.  This game is like going to Vegas and playing War.  Their is risk involved, it's not very exciting, and you have to be on your toe's.

[MercyMe]

Fraz wrote:

Mercyme, I don't think she was quite playing the same game as I am playing.  Or, atleast, she isn't very good at it.

I think it's the later, having heard bits and pieces, through the years, and more recently my daughter-in-law elaborating a bit by saying her mother had just transferred a rather large balance to another 0% card.  This was before the "crash".  Somehow, and perhaps you can explain this, by continually transferring balances to 0% cards she was able to obtain a whole lot of goods and services that didn't cost her a dime, upfront.  I've also heard her suggest to others (all of whom were way out of my league!) to invest in short term, high yield CDs. Easy money, she said. Of course, as I said, I have heard only bits and pieces.  Perhaps, in all the juggling  she  missed a payment or a expiration date.  She has had an awful lot going on, the past few years.  I'm sure to find out, as time goes on. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the complement, it's is/was my DJ moniker...lol Thanks again for all your advice, I really am serious about this and have taken a lot into consideration but like the ol' saying goes, "Learn from other's mistakes". or successes however you want to look at it. I realize the transfer fee is what is going to kill me...I think it would be easy to do, my recommendation to anyone trying it is to only do a 6 month cd from HSBC perhaps a year however I don't know how it is possible to take it out of your cd in time to pay back your card.

[Anonymous]

Yea I would not recommend a CD. I used that as an example of how people can get locked in and hurt. Keep this in mind. There are other risks you might not think about. Have a back up plan in case. The best plan is one that takes you out of the plan. The human element is what messes up.

Think about this. I ended up in the emergency room. That most certainly was not planned. I could not pay bills... why? I did not return home for a while. Back up plan. Even if you don't depend on Bill Pay it still is a great back up. I was out and the bank paid my bills. It worked that time. Wheu. Back up plan!