1st time balance transfer advice

[Anonymous]

So I’ve been looking to open an account to apply a balance transfer to. Preferably a 0% interest on balance transfer for 12 months+ type account. I don’t have very many cards and I’ve never done this before. There are a lot of companies that offer these type of account promotions but I’m not sure which are true or best to deal with.

Can anyone recommend which company or type of card would be best ? Discover, HSBC, Advanta, Chase, etc.... Also which usually provides a significant limit? I don’t have the best score its about 650. Any information would be helpful.

Thanks!

[haulingthescoreup]

Go to Bank of America's preapproval site (I'm on Firefox, so you'll have to copy/paste the URL):

https://preapproved.bankofamerica.com/cc/SelfInquiry.aspx

This is by no means a guarantee of a card, but you'll see if you fit with anything that they have, and BofA often has good BT cards. However, they charge a 3% BT fee with no cap, so that can dilute the value.

Think of it this way: if you take a year to pay off the BT, it will be like a 3% APR; over 6 months it will be like 6%, over 3 months it will be like 12%, and so forth. These figures aren't exact, because they don't consider compound interest, but they'll give you an idea. So IF they let you BT a high balance that you can drag out over the whole 12 months, it's a good deal, but if you can only BT a little bit at a time, pay it off in a few months, and repeat, you're looking at the equivalent of 12% APR or so. Which might be good, depending on where you are now.

If I might ask, why is your score 650? Not that it's bad, but it implies that something is holding you back. Depending on what that is, it might be a problem in finding a BT card.

[marty56]

Try National City.  I got 0% for 15 months and no fee.  They will also send you then money so you can pay the cards off.  It is really a cash advance at 0%.  I was a BT virgin until then.