topic BT or pay individually in General Credit Topics

BT or pay individually

themeggerz — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:55:29 GMT

I have a Discover card with 0% on BT for 6 months and a 3k limit.

I have the following cards with balances NOt at 0%:

CU card: $565 / $700 9.9% noAF

NFCU card: $565.41 / $3000 11.9% noAF

NFCU rew card: $1017.92 / $1500 13.9% noAF

CapOne: $262 / $750 / 22.99% yesAF ($39)

I had planned to pay these off within the next 6 months anyway.

Would it make more sense in the long run to just BT (there is a 4% fee) and pay them off in chunks and have all those cards as "0"...or....

TIA

Re: BT or pay individually

pizzadude — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:27:00 GMT

@themeggerz wrote:
I have a Discover card with 0% on BT for 6 months and a 3k limit.

I have the following cards with balances NOt at 0%:

CU card: $565 / $700 9.9% noAF
NFCU card: $565.41 / $3000 11.9% noAF
NFCU rew card: $1017.92 / $1500 13.9% noAF
CapOne: $262 / $750 / 22.99% yesAF ($39)

I had planned to pay these off within the next 6 months anyway.

Would it make more sense in the long run to just BT (there is a 4% fee) and pay them off in chunks and have all those cards as "0"...or....

TIA

If you did go ahead with a balance transfer would you be able to pay it off during 6 months 0% ? If not, then what interest rate would it revert to after the 6 months ?

Re: BT or pay individually

themeggerz — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:29:36 GMT

Yes, I could easily pay off the balance transfer in 6 months.

I dont have any major purchases coming up - I am trying to save the most amount of money by the time my husband comes home from Afghanistan.

Re: BT or pay individually

GoodCredBen — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:31:02 GMT

Congratz on your DH coming home!

I applaud you as well as him for serving!

i think that you are on track here

Re: BT or pay individually

themeggerz — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:32:33 GMT

Thanks BCBen

We want to start trying for a baby when he gets home, and as a result I want to save as much money as possible by then.

I guess I need to figure out if the 4% BT fee is < than the interest I would incurr over the 6 months.

Meg

Re: BT or pay individually

GoodCredBen — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:33:14 GMT

i would agree....

Re: BT or pay individually

pizzadude — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:50:31 GMT

You have approx $2,410 in debt ~ so if you xferred it all then the 4% fee would be ~$96.

Re: BT or pay individually

themeggerz — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:52:03 GMT

And the interest on those cards for 6 months would be approx $39.42, $72, and $40.92 over the 6 months. So the BT would be better.

However, apparently navy fed has a 0% BT for 12 months WITH no bt fee. So Im going to try that first.

TY everyone!

Re: BT or pay individually

themeggerz — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:27:24 GMT

Update: I decided to ask Navy Fed for my own card for the balance transfer option.

After income verification, they gave me a 15k limit (O_O) - its my highest limit ever!

Im going to BT because there are 1) no BT fees and 2) 0% for a year. Its a win win!

Now , the question is - is it better to have 10 cards at 0% and one card at high utilization.... or....

Because I could BT all myc ards onto this card, including some that have 0% financing.... that way I only have one payment and can throw all extra money at this card.

Thoughts?

Re: BT or pay individually

pizzadude — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:42:16 GMT

@themeggerz wrote:
Update: I decided to ask Navy Fed for my own card for the balance transfer option.
After income verification, they gave me a 15k limit (O_O) - its my highest limit ever!
Im going to BT because there are 1) no BT fees and 2) 0% for a year. Its a win win!

Now , the question is - is it better to have 10 cards at 0% and one card at high utilization.... or....

Because I could BT all myc ards onto this card, including some that have 0% financing.... that way I only have one payment and can throw all extra money at this card.

Thoughts?

Congrats ~ That's a great CL and a fantastic balance xfer offer. NAVY ROCKS !!!

For me it would be easier to have only a single payment to worry about, but as long as they are at zero percent, whatever works for you is the best option.

Also FICO scoring prefers fewer cards with balances, although if your %util is too high on that single card there might be some score hit. Personally I'd just put it all on one card and pay it down, not worrying too much about the score impact.