@MeOnMyWay wrote:I was just approved for a Chase SLATE
I had been searching for good BT card options for someone with my OKish (693) but not stellar credit. I have a 60 day late payment from almost a year ago on CareCredit--I wanted to wait until it was a full year behind me before applying. But then a SLATE offer came up on my Chase page (I have a Freedom card). I actually thought it was a SP offer, because it said "Since you are already a customer....", and I didn't see a HP auth, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to see what came of it. *DING* is what came of it...AND a $5100 new credit line.
Currently, I am only using one credit card, a BofA Cash Rewards. It has a $6000 limit. I just use it like cash and pay it off. I have been paying off balances on my other cards and am now down to the final four, all with terrible interest rates.
CareCredit: $4400/$6000 26.99%
Cap One Quicksilver: $2800/$3500 24.65%
Discover: $650/$2100 24.99%
Chase Freedom: $2750/$3500 24.74%
I initially wanted to use the BT (15 months, no fee, 0% interest) for CareCredit. But since transfering that balance will nearly max out the SLATE, I thought about doing the Quicksilver instead, though it has a slightly lower interest rate. I'd still be using a high percentage--55% of the credit line--but it would also open up the more useable Quicksilver credit line. My other concern about opting to BT the Carecredit line was because of a couple of anecdotes about them shutting down paid off credit lines. I definitely don't want to lose $6000 of available credit, even if it is just on paper.
Advice appreciated! I have to make a decision soon, because the 15 month 0% clock is ticking and I have to do the BT within 60 days.
Thanks!
Does your Discover or Quicksilver have BT offers, also? (Possibly Freedom as I have had them in the past.) I would probably transfer the Discover and CapOne balances to the Slate, then transfer as much of the Freedom as possible to one or both of those cards. Even if they have 3-5% balance transfer fees, you'll be better off since it doesn't sound like those would be paid off within the next few months. The higher APR of the Care Credit is marginally higher, so it's not like we're talking about the difference between 12% and 27%. That also gets two of those cards out of 80% utilization, and then you could just chip away at the Care Credit as quickly as possible since it would be your last high APR balance.
Chase BTs are usually done within a week. For less common lenders they may need to mail a check and you’d have to wait for them to process your payment which is why they give the outside 3 weeks. Both my wife and I have perpetual 0% with 3% fee for 12 months and 4.99% with 0% fee for 18 month offers with Discover.
So yes, I would suggest moving what you can to Slate and then what you can to Discover to stop as much of the high APRs as possible.
So yes, I would suggest moving what you can to Slate and then what you can to Discover to stop as much of the high APRs as possible.
@MeOnMyWay wrote:I was just approved for a Chase SLATE
I had been searching for good BT card options for someone with my OKish (693) but not stellar credit. I have a 60 day late payment from almost a year ago on CareCredit--I wanted to wait until it was a full year behind me before applying. But then a SLATE offer came up on my Chase page (I have a Freedom card). I actually thought it was a SP offer, because it said "Since you are already a customer....", and I didn't see a HP auth, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to see what came of it. *DING* is what came of it...AND a $5100 new credit line.
Currently, I am only using one credit card, a BofA Cash Rewards. It has a $6000 limit. I just use it like cash and pay it off. I have been paying off balances on my other cards and am now down to the final four, all with terrible interest rates.
CareCredit: $4400/$6000 26.99%
Cap One Quicksilver: $2800/$3500 24.65%
Discover: $650/$2100 24.99%
Chase Freedom: $2750/$3500 24.74%
I initially wanted to use the BT (15 months, no fee, 0% interest) for CareCredit. But since transfering that balance will nearly max out the SLATE, I thought about doing the Quicksilver instead, though it has a slightly lower interest rate. I'd still be using a high percentage--55% of the credit line--but it would also open up the more useable Quicksilver credit line. My other concern about opting to BT the Carecredit line was because of a couple of anecdotes about them shutting down paid off credit lines. I definitely don't want to lose $6000 of available credit, even if it is just on paper.
Advice appreciated! I have to make a decision soon, because the 15 month 0% clock is ticking and I have to do the BT within 60 days.
Thanks!
You're going to have high individual card utilization no matter what you do, so you might as well get rid of the Care Credit balance. You're overthinking it to worry about adverse action. If it happens it happens but you can't live your life in the shadow of that.
