@afraidofdebt wrote:Hi everyone! I'm new here, so bear with me as I figure out how this forum works. I'm seeking advice on applying for a balance transfer credit card or sticking with my current line of credit. My gross income is $38,000/yr (plus whatever I make from side gigs) and I pay $550/mo for rent.
I have one line of credit with $11,000 of debt (the limit is $20,000). It's an NFCU credit card with a 15.9% APR. I was in graduate school & unemployed for several months after graduating, so I racked up this amount. I've had the credit card for 5 years, 7 months & my FICO score recently dropped from 770 to 698 because of credit utilization & a day-late payment (I've set up auto payments now so that doesn't happen again). My credit usage is 54% & I've had 0 credit checks in the last 2 years. I was looking into applying for the Citi Double Cash Card (0% Apt for the first 18 mo. on balance transfers, intro balance transfer fee of 3%, credit needed: Fair/Good/Excellent). However, I'm worried that if I apply for the card, my credit will be negatively impacted and I might not get approved. Here are the payoff numbers if I am approved: $330 balance transfer fee and I'll have 18 mo. to pay off my credit at $612/mo. If I stick with my NFCU card and pay $1,000/mo for 12 months, I will end up paying $967 in interest. If I take 18 months, I'll pay $1,436 in interest. Any advice on what I should do here? Paying $1,000/mo will be difficult with my income but I'm hoping I can make that happen. Thank you in advance.
Welcome to the forum.
You haven't mentioned what your FICO credit scores are.
Even if they're good, your plan won't work if you're counting on Citi giving you a large enough starting credit limit to transfer your entire balance, as Citi, if it approves you, will give you a small starting limit.
My suggestion would be to get a credit union, platinum, non-rewards card, with no balance transfer fee, from another credit union, and use that to partially pay down your NFCU balance. Then, when you've made some good progress on paying down the NFCU balance, ask NFCU for an interest rate reduction.
I don't see any CC would give you a decent limit at this point for BT! You may want to try personal loan, DCU offers them at 11.99%
With your current credit predicament, any CC you get would be very low limit and not much helpful for BT.
I would try everything to get that late payment removed 1st, that is going to impact your score significantly! Be very persistence and see if they can remove it. Most banks have once a year forgiveness for late payments.
@afraidofdebt wrote:Hi! Thanks so much for your reply. My credit score provided by NFCU is 698 and based on VantageScore 3.0. I'm not sure how to obtain my FICO score... The credit limit isn't something I had considered, so thanks for that point. Do you have any suggestions for a credit union, platinum, non-rewards card, with no balance transfer fee? Thanks so much.
Yes there are many but usually your best bet is to look among the more local credit unions which you can join by virtue of your geography, employment, or other affiliation. Some credit unions which are open to all and have credit cards of that type are Unify, Affinity FCU, Chartway, BECU, Members 1st (Enola PA), Dept of Interior, Dept of Commerce, Digital, Stanford, Patelco, Nusenda, Kinecta, SECU MD, Green State, Virginia CU, etc.
Also Langley FCU has a good PLOC with good interest rate which might well serve the same purpose.
