Balance Transfer Question

[Anonymous]

Hello all. Just a quick question. To start off with, I had alot of things come up earlier this year after buying my house, and ended up getting in over my head in credit card debt. My problem is, I have quite a few lates now, and alot of the cards will probably be getting closed soon (not that I'm going to miss CreditOne, 1st Prem, and Merrick), but I also don't want them to be closed with balances or go to collections. It's just hard to pay them off, without having access to that money if I needed it for some reason. So what I was wondering, I currently have a NFCU cashRewards card with a $2k limit that has a $0 balance. I was thinking about transferring one or two of my late accounts over each month, and then paying them off in full every month to avoid the interest. That way, it clears up the late debt and I can close those accounts, and once I pay off NFCU in full every month, I would still have access to that money if I needed it. Sorry for the ramble, and I hope all of that makes sense. Thanks in advance for the input.

[CreditInspired]

Hi Jeffro,

I'm sorry but I don't really understand the question you're asking. So, let us know:

• How much you owe on each of your CCs, the credit limit, interest rate, the minimum amount due, and if it's a 30-day, 60-day, 90-day, etc. late. 
• Don't forget there are fees associated with a bank transfer.
• What do you mean by "transferring one or two of your late accounts over each month, and then paying them off in full every month to avoid the interest." First, there will be interest payable on your cash reward cards and second, why not transfer the entire CL, why only one or two of your late accounts or do they exceed the $2K CL on your cash rewards?

Please give us some more details and we'll try our best to help you out on this.

[Anonymous]

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@CreditInspired wrote:

Hi Jeffro,

I'm sorry but I don't really understand the question you're asking. So, let us know:

• How much you owe on each of your CCs, the credit limit, interest rate, the minimum amount due, and if it's a 30-day, 60-day, 90-day, etc. late. 
• Don't forget there are fees associated with a bank transfer.
• What do you mean by "transferring one or two of your late accounts over each month, and then paying them off in full every month to avoid the interest." First, there will be interest payable on your cash reward cards and second, why not transfer the entire CL, why only one or two of your late accounts or do they exceed the $2K CL on your cash rewards?

Please give us some more details and we'll try our best to help you out on this.

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I'm not sure about the minimum payment or the interest rates, I honestly don't remember off the top of my head. Merrick is $1800 out of $2k, CreditOne is maxed at $1k, and 1st Prem is $900 out of $1k. They are all 90 day lates. These are just the ones that I was going to start out with. There will probably be more that I'll be closing also. 

There's no BT fee with the NFCU cashRewards, but interest rate is 17.6%, which I know is quite a bit lower than the other sub prime cards I have.

What I mean is, I could spend the $1k a month to pay off these cards, but that's hard to do when I'm also closing them, as that's $1k I wouldn't have access to if I needed it. But, if I did a BT to NFCU, I could pay that $1k a month to NFCU, which would leave me with that money available if need be. So the new balance would only be posted to my NFCU account for 2-3 weeks before being paid in full. And yes, they would exceed my $2k limit, that's why I was planning on doing one or two a month. 

I hope that made more sense

[Anonymous]

BT to NFCU based off of which card with a balance has the highest APR.  Pay NFCU as much as you can, and try to pay at least the minimum on the other accounts you are unable to BT based off sequence of transfers.  I'd then keep the accounts open showing the balances are paid in full.  Please specify why you would be closing each account? You mentioned there will be more that you'll be closing.  Please give us more data points to understand where you are currently and what your action plan is.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

BT to NFCU based off of which card with a balance has the highest APR.  Pay NFCU as much as you can, and try to pay at least the minimum on the other accounts you are unable to BT based off sequence of transfers.  I'd then keep the accounts open showing the balances are paid in full.  Please specify why you would be closing each account? You mentioned there will be more that you'll be closing.  Please give us more data points to understand where you are currently and what your action plan is.

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My plan is, whenever I BT an account to NFCU, within 2-3 weeks, the NFCU account will be paid back in full. I'm closing them mainly just to get rid of my subprime cards and the ones that don't do anything for me anymore. The only accounts that I'm planning on keeping open is NFCU cashRewards, AMEX BCE, Chase Amazon, and Cap1 QS. At some point, the QS may get closed, only because it started out as a Platinum in the credit steps program, and after doing research here, I don't really think it will serve alot of purpose either. 

[K-in-Boston]

I would absolutely do what I could to get the accounts up-to-date, which means paying whatever the minimums are on each card prior to the next due date.  Otherwise the cards are going to get charged off or at least closed with balances (the latter could happen even if you DO bring them up-to-date), and either way it would not be surprising to see AA from your other lenders.  If you start going past 90 day territory you may find yourself with no cards at all and even struggle to get subprime cards again in the near future.  Once you've done that, you could certainly start to do balance transfers to get things paid off and lower the interest, but if you're planning to pay the NFCU card in full after each BT the amount of interest you'd be saving would be minimal.

[woodyman100]

What K-in-Boston said.
Just pay the cards as quick as you can and approach an emergency as it comes.
Time will heal the damage to your credit, but stop more damage.
Sounds to me as if you simply hate letting go of the money.

You can do it. I know you can
I’m pulling for you

[Anonymous]

You better hurry and make your move....NFCU could AA you. No offense, but all and any creditors should AA you       imminently because your most likely going to burn them in their eyes. Sorry for your situation..But to protect you from getting in more trouble, I hope they all AA you quickly.

Then you can figure things out and start building again.

Sounds to me you don't feel like letting go of the money for the goods you racked up on credit.

[Anonymous]

Why not just pay the late accounts with the money that you would be using to pay NFCU? Then you save a needless step along with the BT fees.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Why not just pay the late accounts with the money that you would be using to pay NFCU? Then you save a needless step along with the BT fees.

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NFCU does not have BT fees.