Good Evening,
I currently have about $9500 of total balance between my 2 CCs. I'm thinking about applying for a new CC that would give me the opportunity to pay those balances over time at a 0% rate. Currently my 2 CCs have an interest rate of about 18.5%.
Is this a good idea? Any recommendations?
Regards.
JB
Hi jibc1978! Welcome to the FICO Forums! 
@jibc1978 wrote:
I currently have about $9500 of total balance between my 2 CCs. I'm thinking about applying for a new CC that would give me the opportunity to pay those balances over time at a 0% rate. Currently my 2 CCs have an interest rate of about 18.5%.
Is this a good idea? Any recommendations?
Without a doubt, it's always a good idea to save as much of your money as possible, and reduce your debt. Going from paying 18.5% interst to 0% on a balance of $9500 would certainly take the sting out of paying. The interest saved should also allow you to pay down your balance faster by making bigger payments. However, as to whether it's a good idea or not for you to apply for another card, and reccomendations would require additional information.
- You've indicated that these are your only two cards, what's the credit limit on each? Who are the card issuers? How long have your had these credit cards (opening month & year)? Do you have any other revolving accounts? Understanding this will help us to get an idea of what your utilization is.
- Do your know what your FICO scores are? Have you pulled scores from this website, or has one of your lenders provided you with a FICO score (not to be confused with a FAKO score-- a non-FICO credit score that's not used in lending decisions).
- Do you have any derogs on your credit reports, such as lates, or public records (bankruptcy, judgments, liens, etc...), collection accounts, charge-offs?
Having this information will help us to understand if you're likely or not to be approved for another credit card, and with favorable terms or not. Also, it might give us a good idea of what prospective lenders to recommend.
While we wait for the additional information, if you're so inclined to provide it-- It's also important to note that when applying for another card to do a balance transfer, you have to weigh factors other than just the APR of the balances that you want to transfer. For example, there is frequently a balance transfer fee. And, if you transfer your balances to a card(s) that have promotional APRs, you've got to have a solid plan in place to pay those balances off within the promotional period. Otherwise, you may find that you've made an undesirable situation way worse. You've also got to have the discipline to not run up and carry balances on those two 18% APR cards, otherwise you'd have defeated the purpose of your BT, increased your debt.
As mentioned above, with additional information, members will be able to make recommendations, and/or provide other useful advice. If you want to forgo more tailored responses, and only want to find out what cards are offering 0% BTs, one resource is to check the Credit Card Center right here at myFICO. Not every 0% credit product is represent so you'll still have to look around. For example, Navy Federal Credit Union (restrictive membership criteria) is offering 0% for 12 months with no BT fees, for a limited time. I recently got an offer in the mail for the REI VISA (underwritten by US Bank) offering 0% for 18 months, but with a 4% BT fee.
@Anonymous wrote:Hi jibc1978! Welcome to the FICO Forums!
@jibc1978 wrote:
I currently have about $9500 of total balance between my 2 CCs. I'm thinking about applying for a new CC that would give me the opportunity to pay those balances over time at a 0% rate. Currently my 2 CCs have an interest rate of about 18.5%.
Is this a good idea? Any recommendations?
Without a doubt, it's always a good idea to save as much of your money as possible, and reduce your debt. Going from paying 18.5% interst to 0% on a balance of $9500 would certainly take the sting out of paying. The interest saved should also allow you to pay down your balance faster by making bigger payments. However, as to whether it's a good idea or not for you to apply for another card, and reccomendations would require additional information.
- You've indicated that these are your only two cards, what's the credit limit on each? Who are the card issuers? How long have your had these credit cards (opening month & year)? Do you have any other revolving accounts? Understanding this will help us to get an idea of what your utilization is.
- Do your know what your FICO scores are? Have you pulled scores from this website, or has one of your lenders provided you with a FICO score (not to be confused with a FAKO score-- a non-FICO credit score that's not used in lending decisions).
- Do you have any derogs on your credit reports, such as lates, or public records (bankruptcy, judgments, liens, etc...), collection accounts, charge-offs?
Having this information will help us to understand if you're likely or not to be approved for another credit card, and with favorable terms or not. Also, it might give us a good idea of what prospective lenders to recommend.
While we wait for the additional information, if you're so inclined to provide it-- It's also important to note that when applying for another card to do a balance transfer, you have to weigh factors other than just the APR of the balances that you want to transfer. For example, there is frequently a balance transfer fee. And, if you transfer your balances to a card(s) that have promotional APRs, you've got to have a solid plan in place to pay those balances off within the promotional period. Otherwise, you may find that you've made an undesirable situation way worse. You've also got to have the discipline to not run up and carry balances on those two 18% APR cards, otherwise you'd have defeated the purpose of your BT, increased your debt.
As mentioned above, with additional information, members will be able to make recommendations, and/or provide other useful advice. If you want to forgo more tailored responses, and only want to find out what cards are offering 0% BTs, one resource is to check the Credit Card Center right here at myFICO. Not every 0% credit product is represent so you'll still have to look around. For example, Navy Federal Credit Union (restrictive membership criteria) is offering 0% for 12 months with no BT fees, for a limited time. I recently got an offer in the mail for the REI VISA (underwritten by US Bank) offering 0% for 18 months, but with a 4% BT fee.
This is why I LOVE this Site, responses like the one here by LilMirth are what helps us "Newbies" understand that's there's so much more to all of this than just applying for a new CC and thinking it will solve all our problems.
GREAT reply LilMirth and I Thank you for the knowledge you have just shared. I am in awe.......
Thanks LilMirth!
Please see below the answer to the questions you posted on your reply: (bold and blue)
- You've indicated that these are your only two cards, what's the credit limit on each? Who are the card issuers? How long have your had these credit cards (opening month & year)? Do you have any other revolving accounts? Understanding this will help us to get an idea of what your utilization is.
- One card has a $7000 CL and I'm carrying about a $5700 balance on it and the other has $3900 CL and carrying about a $3800 balance, these are the cards that I want to pay down using BTs, I've had both of them for nearly 4 years now (August 2007). Also I have 3 othe retailer cards but don't carry a balance in 2 of them ($900 CL, and $1700 CL) and I'm currently carrying about $1600 of a $5200 CL in the other one.
- Do your know what your FICO scores are? Have you pulled scores from this website, or has one of your lenders provided you with a FICO score (not to be confused with a FAKO score-- a non-FICO credit score that's not used in lending decisions).
- Yes, my FICO score is currently 726, and yes I used this site to found out Also, I have a score off 715 using the Experian score. I understand that these scores are bound to go up since I recently paid out the balances of the two retailer cards mentioned in the answer aboved, or I am mistaken?
- Do you have any derogs on your credit reports, such as lates, or public records (bankruptcy, judgments, liens, etc...), collection accounts, charge-offs?
- I understand that I don't have derogs on my reports.
I really appreciate the promptness(is this a real word? hehehe) of your response on this issue!
jibc1978
I agree!!
And forgot to mention on my reply that I actually have 2 plans to pay-off those balances within a year to a year and a half, one that takes into consideration an approval for a BT CC and the other doesn't.
Will keep you posted on my actions to see if they can serve as a guide to someone with a similar idea.
I appreciate all of your thoughts and recommendations!
jibc1978