Debt Consolidation Loan?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I currently have 2 credit card balances that I really want to get taken care of:

Discover It: $6,539 out of $14,800; 22.99%

Chase Sapphire Preffered: $6,200 out of $14,800; 22.99%

I am paying about $300 per month on each. Still putting some monthly spend on Chase because of a Door Dash deal but not spending on Discover. Currently costing be about $200-$240 in interest per month between the 2. Should go down as I pay them down.  

All of my other cards have low or no balances. I have no lates or baddies on my credit report. Score is around 715. 

Marcus has offered me a debt consolidation loan. Multiple options between 12.49% - 12.99%. 36-42 months. $386-$434 month.

I like the idea of being able to pay off the cards and I don't think I am much of a risk to charge them back up. I think the loan will save me money over time, but it also locks me into a monthly payment where keeping them on the cards gives me more flexibility with the payment amount if I ever need it. I have a few offers for new CC with 0% transfer offers, but it seems to be with lower starting lines. For example, my CU is offering a $5,000 SL. Not much help there.

Any input/ideas on the best way to move forward would be appreciated.  

[blindambition]

Since you belong to a CU, I'd see what they offer on consolidation loan. Check one like PenFed. I'm sure they can beat Marcus. Paying those interests on cards is just throwing money away. Especially one your still spending on. Once a loan is obtained, set a budget. Make larger payments to knock it out. Saving more on interest.

[Kforce]

Ran some numbers to help with decisions.

$12,700 @Anonymous.99 with $600/mo = 28 months and $3,772 interest loss.

$12,700 @Anonymous.49 with $600/mo = 25 months and $1,733 interest loss.

$12,700 @Anonymous.49 with $426/mo = 36 months and $2,601 interest loss.

Best option is take the 3 year loan and pay more than the 3 year payment every month.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much. I am not sure about my CU. It will cost me a hard pull to find out and they only have 24 month terms. 

Thank you for those numbers. It does seem like that 3 year loan and paying more is the best option.

Does anyone have experience with Marcus? I contacted them to find out what documents they would need and I haven't heard back yet. 

[barca]

before you go ahead with Marcus - you might want to try some lenders with soft pull and see their rates.

specifically try Discover personal loan and Penfed personal loan.

since they are both soft pull - you have nothing to lose, but they might have better rates than Marcus

[FlaDude]

CK and NerdWallet among others will search a bunch of lenders and show prequalified offers with a SP, that's how I found all three of my consolidation loans. I was able to get much better rates (6-8%) with scores similar to yours.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello,

I currently have 2 credit card balances that I really want to get taken care of:

Discover It: $6,539 out of $14,800; 22.99%

Chase Sapphire Preffered: $6,200 out of $14,800; 22.99%

I am paying about $300 per month on each. Still putting some monthly spend on Chase because of a Door Dash deal but not spending on Discover. Currently costing be about $200-$240 in interest per month between the 2. Should go down as I pay them down.  

All of my other cards have low or no balances. I have no lates or baddies on my credit report. Score is around 715. 

Marcus has offered me a debt consolidation loan. Multiple options between 12.49% - 12.99%. 36-42 months. $386-$434 month.

I like the idea of being able to pay off the cards and I don't think I am much of a risk to charge them back up. I think the loan will save me money over time, but it also locks me into a monthly payment where keeping them on the cards gives me more flexibility with the payment amount if I ever need it. I have a few offers for new CC with 0% transfer offers, but it seems to be with lower starting lines. For example, my CU is offering a $5,000 SL. Not much help there.

Any input/ideas on the best way to move forward would be appreciated.  

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There are different ways to play it but I would look for more credit unions which have a low interest, no balance transfer fee, non-rewards platinum card, and then try one of those. E.g., Unify FCU, Chartway, Andigo, Evansville Teachers FCU, etc.

[Anonymous]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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There are different ways to play it but I would look for more credit unions which have a low interest, no balance transfer fee, non-rewards platinum card, and then try one of those. E.g., Unify FCU, Chartway, Andigo, Evansville Teachers FCU, Affinity FCU, etc.

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You mean try to get a new card with a 0% balance transfer offer or look at them for a consolidation loan? 

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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There are different ways to play it but I would look for more credit unions which have a low interest, no balance transfer fee, non-rewards platinum card, and then try one of those. E.g., Unify FCU, Chartway, Andigo, Evansville Teachers FCU, etc

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You mean try to get a new card with a 0% balance transfer offer or look at them for a consolidation loan? 

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No, I meant for a balance transfer.

Sometimes you can get a 0% promo rate, but even if you can't you might be able to get a 1.99% or 2.99% promo rate.

But no matter what, IMHO the cards are worth having permanently because there is NO balance transfer fee, and even the non-promo rates are vastly lower than the typical bank card interest rates. E.g. my non-promo rates on the cards I mentioned are 8.49%, 6.99%, 9.65%, and 6.25%.

[4sallypat]

I have a Discover PLOC that I took for credit card consolidation and helped my score tremendously (revolving into installment).

They SP and quoted 12.9% which was acceptable at that time (690 score) but now that my score has risen, I am thinking of re-fi the Discover loan....