I probably would not take the 6.99% apr offer.
if you can pay off the $1871 in four weeks, I would just do that first because things are just more simple without blending interest rates. then transfer from nfcu $18335 (x 1.05fee = $19252balance). you save ~$185 a month in interest to start.
BEFORE | apr % | bal | min $ | int $ /mo |
penfed | 12.80 | 17737 | 673 | 189 |
disco | 18.25 | 1871 | 83 | 28 |
nfcu | 10.25 | 20535 | 411 | 175 |
TOTAL | 11.75 | 40143 | 1167 | 393 |
AFTER | apr % | bal | min $ | int $ /mo |
penfed | 12.80 | 17737 | 673 | 189 |
disco | 0.00 | 19252 | 433 | 0 |
nfcu | 10.25 | 2200 | 50 | 19 |
TOTAL | 6.37 | 39189 | 1156 | 208 |
some would say NO!!! because the discover will be maxed out. my thought has always been finances > fico. if you're going to do the balance transfer, might as well maximize the savings.
nfcu is your lowest interest rate. in a another scenario you could transfer the higher apr penfed loan to discover. the caveat would be your score would probably take a very unfriendly hit due to your revolving balances nearly doubling. the fico algorithm doesn't score loan balances the same way it does revolving balances.
AFTER | apr % | bal | min $ | int $ /mo |
penfed | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
disco | 0.00 | 18623 | 745 | 0 |
nfcu | 10.25 | 20535 | 411 | 175 |
TOTAL | 5.38 | 39158 | 1156 | 175 |
lastly... keep up the good work!
9/2022 $30000 | 8/2020 $20000 | 12/2018 $30000 | 8/2016 $30000 | 3/2016 $21000 | 5/2014 $20000 | 10/2007 $8900 |
First, you've done an awesome job and yay you!
If it were me, I would pay Discover off, wait for a zero statement to cut, then transfer roughly $9k of your NFCU balance to your Discover card with the zero percent deal.
Once new statements cut, you'll be under 48.9% utilization on both cards... you should see a nice Fico 8 score boost, and with no individual cards maxed out, more zero percent balance transfer options will be available.
Good luck!
Thanks for replying guys. I really appreciate you! It's good to have this board to lean on for opinions on things like this.
I will pay off the Disco first. Then make the 0% balance transfer. I'll probably mull over exactly how much to transfer over the next 6 weeks. I'm leaning toward the more the better, but I want to make sure that I can pay off all of the transfer, plus pay off anything left on the NFCU card before the Disco 0% balance transfer term ends.
One more question. Say I were to transfer 9000, then pay that off on Discover while continuing the minimum payments on NFCU. After that Disco transfer balance is paid off, how likely is it that Disco extends another 0% balance transfer offer that I can use to transfer whatever is left from the NFCU card? Do they only offer so many balance transfers per year or do those balance transfer offers keep coming from Discover?
Not psychic, but in my experience Discover will keep offering BTs.
There are others out there as well. Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Citi all have 18 month balance transfer offers on certain cards right now.
They could dry up tomorrow, but I don't expect them to. I think that you'll be fine.
@iowe wrote:I'm leaning toward the more the better, but I want to make sure that I can pay off all of the transfer, plus pay off anything left on the NFCU card before the Disco 0% balance transfer term ends.
according to your most recent numbers, your total min payments for three accounts are about $1167 /mo. the loan is fixed, so how much in total payment $ can you pay towards the revolving balances?
if you are trying to pay off both within 14 months:
14mo payoff | apr % | bal | 14mo min $ | 14mo total int |
disco | 0.00 | 9000 | 643 | 0 |
disco fee | 450 | 32 | 0 | |
nfcu | 10.25 | 10535 | 802 | 687 |
TOTAL | 19985 | 1477 | 687 |
in my experience, disco's balance transfer offers are perpetual.
9/2022 $30000 | 8/2020 $20000 | 12/2018 $30000 | 8/2016 $30000 | 3/2016 $21000 | 5/2014 $20000 | 10/2007 $8900 |
I've been throwing between 1500-1600 per month at the revolvers. ($1000-$1100 for Disco, and then the minimum payment at NFCU. I think one month was a little tight and I paid a couple of hundred less ($700) on the Disco, but otherwise the normal monthly target for me has been to throw 1k at it.)
I plan to crunch a little more and move that monthly revolver payment up to 2k
Milestone reached; Discover card balance paid off today.
@iowe wrote:Milestone reached; Discover card balance paid off today.
Awesome. Congratulations.
And wow, your scores have jumped 52 points since you began this program. Great job.
The debt and my scores are both moving in the right direction. Feels good to finish this phase and move on to next. Now I can use the Discover balance transfer to begin grinding down the next mountain. Mt NFCU
Yeah I like what you did here @iowe great job. You're literally almost done with the thing. Snowball these last 2 by deploying all available cash to the balances and you'll be done before you know it. Congratulations. Very happy for you and your daughter