How to find a good 0% intro rate card

[Anonymous]

I'm starting a new thread because the old one was convoluted & confusing.

I'm making a couple large purchases on the scale of about $10k within the next couple of months. I'd like to put them on a 0% card so that I have 12 months to pay them off rather than buying them outright.

My question is, how do I find a good 0% card with a high enough limit and a long enough intro period without randomly applying and getting a bunch of hard inquiries? Can I negotiate directly with the bank?

Here are the stats:
-2 accounts
-$40k total limit
-less than $2000 balance at all times
-mid-700's score, no negatives
-somewhat short credit history

Message Edited by matt111 on 02-24-2008 08:05 AM

[Anonymous]

I'm curious which CCC's you currently deal with.  If it's one of the big ones, BoA, Chase, Citi, etc. you can check online for ballance transfer offers.  Based on the info in your other thread, it would work out great if you had a decent balance transfer offer on your larger limit card ($25k?), what you were calling your backup card.  You could charge the items to your primary card, then do a BT to the secondary card.  Yes, probably pay a 3% transfer fee, but still maybe worth it.  Your primary card would then still be avaiable for regular purchase, gas mostly I think you said.  Just don't use the backup card for purchase if you did a BT!

Also, not sure if it applies, or you realized it or not, but the card(s) you already applied for and were aproved for small limits on, those are probably active accounts for you now, whether you really want them or not, and they almost definately resulted in hard inguiries.

[Anonymous]

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krystofur wrote:

You could charge the items to your primary card, then do a BT to the secondary card.  Yes, probably pay a 3% transfer fee, but still maybe worth it.  Your primary card would then still be avaiable for regular purchase, gas mostly I think you said.  Just don't use the backup card for purchase if you did a BT!

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This is what I would do...

[Anonymous]

OK, I'll look into the balance transfer idea. Thanks for the tip.

I've checked my active accounts and there are only two currently open - I am trying to avoid hard inquiries by picking the right card out before I apply this time around.

edit: My accounts are currently with Chase (primary) and BoA (backup).

Message Edited by matt111 on 02-24-2008 09:01 AM

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:
OK, I'll look into the balance transfer idea. Thanks for the tip.

I've checked my active accounts and there are only two currently open - I am trying to avoid hard inquiries by picking the right card out before I apply this time around.

edit: My accounts are currently with Chase (primary) and BoA (backup).

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BoA charges a 3% BT fee, and they generally DON'T cap it, which is bad. So you'll want to think of it this way:

3%, paid off after 12 months = approx 3% APR
3%, paid off after 9 months = approx 4.5% APR
3%, paid off after 6 months = approx 6% APR
3%, paid off after 3 months = approx 12% APR (yikes)

Since you plan to pay over a 12-month span, you should be OK. It would actually be the equivalent of a bit under 3% APR, but I haven't the foggiest idea how to figure that out.

[Anonymous]

matt111

You may want to look at Amex Clear.  No fees for anything (no balance transfer fee). Period.  You already have two prime cards with Chase and BoA.

They have 12 month 0% offer. 

[Anonymous]

go to www.bankrate.com They list many cards being offered and you can search by criteria.