New to the balance transfer thing but wanted to get some input. I have two cards NFCU w/ a 6500 CL and a balance of $4200 and then a Mission Lane card w/ a 2800 CL and a $1300 balance - I have been making payments but with interest being added each month not enough to make a dent the way i'd like. Didnt realize MLane had a ridiculous 34% APR and all of a sudden an annual fee :0 ( i will eventually close this card) - NFCU isnt crazy its like 17% or 18%. I have applied and was approved for two cards - a BOFA card and an ALLY card that both give me 0% interest for 18months and 12 months - in my head it makes sense to xfr the balances from NFCU and ML to each one of these cards to take advantage of the 0% and pay these down quicker - Are there any drawbacks to balance transfers? Does this make sense to do?
Thanks for any input 
Congratulations on the new approvals! Yes, this is a perfect opportunity for you to take advantage of the introductory balance transfer promotions on your BofA and Ally cards to relieve the other two cards and save yourself some interest. What were the SL's on the new cards? If the BofA (with the longer 0% term, right?) has enough credit limit to carry both the NFCU and ML balances, I'd recommend transferring them both to the BofA card. If you were just hit with the ML annual fee, may as well keep it around in your sock drawer until the next annual fee is about to be charged -- otherwise if it's coming soon, you may want to close it out after you're at $0 balance (and don't forget about trailing interest).
If you can get most of it paid off over the 18 months then yes do it. 34 percent is ridiculous and as the other poster suggests i would cancel it if you are not able to pay it off monthly. BoA isnt really adverse to bts like other banks are. good luck on getting it taken care of over the 18 mos.
Balance Transfer offers are a great way to pay things off faster, if you're able to pay them off in the BT's 0% interest term. There are really no major downsides... One would be the BT fee (usually something like 3-5% of the transfer amount) - make sure this fee is less than the interest you would be paying if you paid it off without doing the BT. The only other downside I can think of is just the potentially high utilization of the new BT card if you're nearly maxing it out to do the BT's, but that's a temporary ding anyway. Some cards like Discover will allow you to BT to your checking account and allocate the money yourself as well.
@Learning_Tee0225 wrote:New to the balance transfer thing but wanted to get some input. I have two cards NFCU w/ a 6500 CL and a balance of $4200 and then a Mission Lane card w/ a 2800 CL and a $1300 balance - I have been making payments but with interest being added each month not enough to make a dent the way i'd like. Didnt realize MLane had a ridiculous 34% APR and all of a sudden an annual fee :0 ( i will eventually close this card) - NFCU isnt crazy its like 17% or 18%. I have applied and was approved for two cards - a BOFA card and an ALLY card that both give me 0% interest for 18months and 12 months - in my head it makes sense to xfr the balances from NFCU and ML to each one of these cards to take advantage of the 0% and pay these down quicker - Are there any drawbacks to balance transfers? Does this make sense to do?
Thanks for any input
What are the BT fees? The BT fees would be the only hindrance.
Try your best to pay that debt down before the introductory offer expires.
If there is any balance left after the introductory period just BT it back to NFCU where the interest is capped at 18 pct and theres no BT fees, ymmv.
@SUPERSQUID wrote:
@Learning_Tee0225 wrote:New to the balance transfer thing but wanted to get some input. I have two cards NFCU w/ a 6500 CL and a balance of $4200 and then a Mission Lane card w/ a 2800 CL and a $1300 balance - I have been making payments but with interest being added each month not enough to make a dent the way i'd like. Didnt realize MLane had a ridiculous 34% APR and all of a sudden an annual fee :0 ( i will eventually close this card) - NFCU isnt crazy its like 17% or 18%. I have applied and was approved for two cards - a BOFA card and an ALLY card that both give me 0% interest for 18months and 12 months - in my head it makes sense to xfr the balances from NFCU and ML to each one of these cards to take advantage of the 0% and pay these down quicker - Are there any drawbacks to balance transfers? Does this make sense to do?
Thanks for any input
What are the BT fees? The BT fees would be the only hindrance.
Try your best to pay that debt down before the introductory offer expires.
If there is any balance left after the introductory period just BT it back to NFCU where the interest is capped at 18 pct and theres no BT fees, ymmv.
Thank you, that's good to know. I wasn't aware that I could just transfer it back and that is a good idea because Navy Federal is the lowest APR that I have. The balance transfer fees for Bank of America or 3% and for Ally they're 4%.
I would put 2200 on BOA and 800 on Ally.
Pay off the 1300 and 1700 towards NFCU.
This gets you under 49% utilizing on 3 cards and the bad interest card paid off.
Does not even matter what the fee is.
@Learning_Tee0225 wrote:New to the balance transfer thing but wanted to get some input. I have two cards NFCU w/ a 6500 CL and a balance of $4200 and then a Mission Lane card w/ a 2800 CL and a $1300 balance - I have been making payments but with interest being added each month not enough to make a dent the way i'd like. Didnt realize MLane had a ridiculous 34% APR and all of a sudden an annual fee :0 ( i will eventually close this card) - NFCU isnt crazy its like 17% or 18%. I have applied and was approved for two cards - a BOFA card and an ALLY card that both give me 0% interest for 18months and 12 months - in my head it makes sense to xfr the balances from NFCU and ML to each one of these cards to take advantage of the 0% and pay these down quicker - Are there any drawbacks to balance transfers? Does this make sense to do?
Thanks for any input
Yes I think it's a good idea to save on the interest. Just don't max out the new balance transfer cards.
