Rolling Over Credit Card Debt - Strategy and ?s regarding 0% Credit Cards in Post App-orama World

[drchaos]

Thanks for the input.

Meant to look up cards from NFCU and Alliant but I think the other cards I listed will potentially get me more than the $9k or $10k I might get from them (assuming $500 plus current limit).

Still not sure the right number of cards to apply for here but I am thinking at least 3 or 4.

Any help is appreciated.

[Patient957]

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@drchaos wrote:

Once I pay down the cards is 30 days long enough to apply for the new cards or do I need to be more patient?

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This whole thing is way above my pay grade, but my 2 cents on this particular point is that you may be able to reduce/optimize this with a little planning and good timing.

If you time your IRA loan to happen just before the statement cuts on the cards you're going to pay, you could potentially reduce the 30 days by a lot.  This would require all or most of the cards to have similar statement cut dates, which would be a matter of just getting lucky and/or trying to get some to adjust their statement cut dates.  I know some issuers will allow changing due dates, but I'm not sure if that also changes the statement cut dates.

If you could line up all the statement cut dates to within, say, a week of each other, then you could time your IRA loan just ahead of those dates.

That's all I got.  Good luck!

[drchaos]

That makes a lot of sense about the statement closing dates.

If I can start paying everything before the January 4th (Saturday) Citi statement, the last of the statements will be Navy Federal Credit Union which would produce a statement with a zero balance on January 26th (Sunday).

Given these data points would Tuesday, January 28th be the best time to apply for the cards or does it take longer for the reporting agencies to get on the same page?

Thanks again.

[FicoMike0]

First of all we are all pulling for you. It looks complicated, but not impossible. Please keep us posted on how it goes.

I think @Patient957 is into something with changing due/statement dates to line up.

I see you have some cl with anex, they've always gone high for me and don't do a hp if you're already a member.

Best of luck!

[Patient957]

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@drchaos wrote:

That makes a lot of sense about the statement closing dates.

If I can start paying everything before the January 4th (Saturday) Citi statement, the last of the statements will be Navy Federal Credit Union which would produce a statement with a zero balance on January 26th (Sunday).

Given these data points would Tuesday, January 28th be the best time to apply for the cards or does it take longer for the reporting agencies to get on the same page?

Thanks again.

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Both Navy and Citi allow you to change your due date.  What I don't know is whether this will also change your statement cut dates proportionally.  You would have to call and ask. 

Ideally, if Navy adjusts its cut date forward by 2 weeks to the 14th and Citi adjusts its cut date back by 10 days to the 14th, then you get statement cuts on the same day.  Then you pay them off on, say, the 9th to be safe.  Your reports should update within maybe a week of statement cut on the 14th, or by the 21st.  That's 12 days between payment and updated reports, much better than 30.

Of course this all hinges on whether changing the due date also changes statement cut date, which I don't know.  You'd have to ask.

[NoMoreE46]

Looking at your thread from last year, it looks like your CC debt was around $118,000.  Getting down to $64000 now is a great accomplishment.    Hopefully your tactics will pan out again.

The best BofA card for your situation is the BankAmericard - 18 months at 0% for BTs.

The Reflect from WF is another long term 0% BT card - 21 months.

CU are also a great option to get you more time to pay down that debt.   

This BT shuffle will become more difficult to gamble upon  involving more players and the longer it spins.

[youngandcreditwrthy]

@drchaos I would first check for offers witht the cards you have.

Discover you need a CLI, but they used to always offer me 0% 12 months no fees

same with Citi. They'd hound me with those .99% checks with no fee 12 months. or 1.99 for 14 mos no fees.

but you obviously will need a backdoor number and a convincing story "Id rather pay these off than file BK"

Bank of America once approved me for 5k on one of their old cards from 2015, I called got them to match my highest personal which was amex around 30k at the time, they did so, and that kept my house of cards going.

the problem here is that the ish will eventually hit the fan and it's possible youll end up like I was back in 2016. 150k in debt, 20/30% utilization... 800 FICO score, in between jobs, three apartments under my name (living in three places.. between three places) and my lifestyle expenses way out of hand.

Don't end up 200k in debt with no way to pay. STOP THIS, TURN IT AROUND. I had to stop using cards for 7 years to get all that debt paid off and wound up with my credit score being LOWER while I was OUT OF DEBT for a few years completely. Don't let the system game you, you game the sys. 

Rates are higher, if you have to swallow a 5% BT FEE, DO IT. Bank of America is good if you can get the right underwriter or unless I missed some reason why BOA won't work with you. Remember you can Product Change, lower lines to increase others (ie move an old account line to combine with a new account  with a 0%)

my friend with a 750 FICO and about 200k income recently got approved for 11k Citi simplicity 21 months no interest and her util is at 25%. 

YOU NEED TO NIP THIS IN THE BUD. the ZERO percent revolving door of debt hell WILL CATCH UP WITH YOU.
I know you can do it. :-) 

I just couldn't believe that when I paid off all that debt in full and on time, my creditors still closed accounts, left me with little credit and a sub prime score. I just started rebuilding last year after all that and am finally back up around 700 and getting good approvals. 

EDIT @NoMoreE46  I can see that you have paid your debt down substantially. Fantastic work. Just continue to keep it up. We know it can flip on a dime esp with consumerism branded into our brains (pun intended). I found myself test driving a brand new Benz CLE 450 the other day, and I just bought a new card last year! and the dealer I went to is telling me their rates are higher now.. makes no sense. 

Either way, Nomoree46 is smart and trustworthy. Take his advice. just dont let the creditors close the cards on you. But boy am I glad to have personally paid nearly 200k in cc debt that had been accumulated over my college career - 5 years or so. The BT offers and blank checks will dry up. I'd work on getting a new BOA card and moving over that 50k limit or at least half of it. BOA always let me move around limits. Like I said... in another post I gave up a HP for a 25k CLI on a boa better bal rewards card (old card from 2015 but had a 0% and 15 months 3% fee). 

We aren't out of the woods on inflation or interest rates yet. Get the best you can get NOW.

[NoMoreE46]

For clarity,  I was referring to the OP getting the debt down.

@youngandcreditwrthy wrote: 

EDIT @NoMoreE46  I can see that you have paid your debt down substantially. Fantastic work. Just continue to keep it up. We know it can flip on a dime esp with consumerism branded into our brains (pun intended). I found myself test driving a brand new Benz CLE 450 the other day, and I just bought a new card last year! and the dealer I went to is telling me their rates are higher now.. makes no sense. 

Either way, Nomoree46 is smart and trustworthy. Take his advice.

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    Appreciate this @youngandcreditwrthy.  Zelleing you the agreed upon amount. 

[Realist]

First off, I'm going to say you have a cluster of many things going on here, where you are trying to balance too much.   If, and I say if I understand your scenario correctly, you are trying to pay off 50k-60k in debt, or at least transfer it over among 3-4 credit cards you hope to acquire?  I ask, why work so hard?  You are gambling in this situation.

First and foremost, I always say that you should look for the silver lining in all situations, find something you couldn't do while times were great.  Observe the macro picture.   Unless I read this wrong, you have a Roth IRA that you can withdraw contributions from to pay much or almost all of this debt in total?   I wouldn't suggest taking the 60 day loan.  Use the balance available to pay down either the most pressing interest rate, or the combination of multiple accounts that free up "X" amount of dollars per month.

With an IRA of any kind, you likely know there are limitations of how much you can contribute each year, less than 10k per year.  If you track the stock market in any way, you would also know that 20-40% annual returns are not normal.  In time, things are going to break, significantly.  However, what you can control, are the certainty in the numbers that you crunch.  By paying off all these totals, how much does it free up a month?  Can that freed up value, be placed into a guaranteed products with lower rates instead?  Sometimes a guaranteed rate is better than a parabolic risk - such as the stock market these days.  Additionally, you are guaranteeing that your debt is eliminated.

When the debts are wiped away, then go apply for the 3-4 credit cards you want.  Your hard inquiries will only matter after you hit the six mark.

As for any CC bank transfers, you are going to accrue a 3%-5% transfer rate for each transaction.  Strategically, this can make sense on an individual basis for a particular need, but not likely for a host of accounts.  It just magnifies the debt.

Get out of your debt by all relatistic means possible.  Then you can save and invest in a ways you never could before.   Everything is just numbers on a ledger.  I'd recommend finding a way of pushing the numbers around, that offer significant savings early, and in a way that removes the uncertainty.

[youngandcreditwrthy]

I wouldn't do any type of retirement account withdrawal with this level of debt.

your retirement accounts are protected from unsecured debt if you have to file BK, and the average american has about 15k in cc debt not 60k.

Sometimes, you also have to pay interest (which goes toy ourself) to your retirement account when you take a loan against it or youre faced with an immediate 20% tax penalty if not paid back within 60 days. dont do it,  retirement accounts are completely protected assets from almost everything. You have enough credit esp with BOA where you should be able to call them up and ask for an offer or open a new card and move over the limit for a 0% card. which with 50k current CL, you could knock out most of that debt.

also if you own a home, DO NOT take out equity or a second mortgage or any loan against your home for unsecured debt ( credit card debt) you could end up homeless. 

its never a good idea to leverage secured protected assets to pay off unsecured debt that would eventually go away if you just stopped paying on it today.. although dependending on your jurisdiction, that could open you to lawsuits and judgements as well as garnishments. 

Texas is a state for example where a credit card co cant garnish wages.