credit card transfers

[dodaac07]

hello all, quick question for you. 

I have a credit card that is at about $4500.  I just got an offer for another credit card I have had (that has been at 0 for years now).  The offer is for 5.99% for $2500. 

My question is, would it be smart to use this offer and pay $2500 to the $4500 credit balance, since the new % is 5.99 and the higher credit card is at 14.99%?  Or would it be smarter just to have the one account active and having a balance?

Thanks for your advice

[tonsers]

How long will it take you to pay off and what are the transfer fees involved? If you can pay it off quickly, it's probably not worth the cost of the transfer... if it's going to take you several months, it may be worth it.

[dodaac07]

well the transfer rate is going to be roughly $199.  it will take several months to pay it off because that bill is further down in my stack.  i am in the process of paying everything off, most of these bills are very old, some up to 5 years ago, some longer.  I have a plan (well i say its a plan, it will be a plan when i get it done

I attempted to pay them off, putting the higher interest one's on top, but I lost motivation years ago because I wasn't see any change.  So I flopped everything and I am paying off the lower balances first... and so far (about a year) I have stuck to it and doing very well.  I say all that to say this... the bill I am considering transferring to the lower interest rate is about 5 down on my list.   I would be able to pay the balance in about 4 or 5 months.  So if I split up the 4500 dollar one, then I was thinking that would save me from paying some interest?

Does this help?

[Creditaddict]

If your saying your going to pay that $4500 off in 4-5 months, then it's probably not worth it. does this offer have a bt fee (3%?)

[Anonymous]

I did some quick math. $2500.00 @ 14.99 would be about $30.00 interest/month (give or take). The new interest would be about $12.00/month (again a rough estimate and if the balance remains consistent @ $2500.00). 

So your savings would be about $20.00/month. With a $199.00 transfer fee,  it'll be about 10 months before you start seeing any benefit from transferring.   If you plan to have the $2500.00 paid down by that time, then it's not really worth it. 

There are online calculators that let you put in payments and APRs that would be a lot more exact that I was in my estimate.

Message Edited by siangirl34 on 09-29-2008 12:56 PM

[dodaac07]

thank you siangirl... that helps alot.  sometimes i know which choice is smarter, i just need a little confirmation.  i believe that i will keep the original and just pay it off when i do. 

thanks for your advice