Personal Loan vs Credit card question?

[crmartin0279]

I currently am paying on a card at 22.24% $4200, son needed dental work and vacation. Would I be better of getting a personal loan at 20.99, pay off the card then pay back the loan or just keep paying minimum on card?

[SlideOrInsert]

what is the min payment? most credit cards are something like 2% of the balance. if you kept the 22.24% and added $5 to the min payment it cost you almost the same as 20.99% and saves time.

apr	bal	pmt	nper	cumipmt	total
22.24	4200	-84	142	-7751	-11951
20.99	4200	-84	120	-5856	-10056
22.24	4200	-89	113	-5859	-10059

personal loans have a fixed term and the payment is dependent on that, the apr and balance. to get a personal loan payment close to 2% the nper sure gets pushed out ridiculously (for a loan).

apr	bal	pmt	nper	cumipmt	total
20.99	4200	-96	84	-3846	-8046
20.99	4200	-103	72	-3218	-7418
20.99	4200	-114	60	-2616	-6816
20.99	4200	-130	48	-2042	-6242
20.99	4200	-158	36	-1496	-5696
20.99	4200	-216	24	-979	-5179
20.99	4200	-391	12	-493	-4693

wait a month before you decide. hopefully, nfcu will start offering 0/1.99% balance transfer offers to everyone in 2023. maybe you can get a cli bump and then do a balance transfer.

[user979797]

Another option that could also maybe work for you is getting a new card with a 0% intro offer. Navy Federal, Truist, FNBO Discover and Citi are just a few that have pre qualify options to possibly get a better idea of approval before you apply.

Discover and Truist both have 15 month 0% options available and the monthly interest savings could go towards your balance to pay it down faster.  Citi has a 21 month option at 0%. 

If you need the personal loan route there are several banks that offer pre qualify and will show you your options such as Goldman Sachs, PNC, Lending Club and PenFed. By checking some of these sites you may be able to find better terms and a better loan rate than 20+% before you apply. 

These are just a few options and I wish you good luck no matter what you end up doing.  

[Shooting-For-800]

I would find a 0% credit card.

21% is brutal.

Have you check with NFCU?  

GL!

[BearsCubsOtters]

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@crmartin0279 wrote:

I currently am paying on a card at 22.24% $4200, son needed dental work and vacation. Would I be better of getting a personal loan at 20.99, pay off the card then pay back the loan or just keep paying minimum on card?

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As a loan would be amortized, you would be paying more interest on the first part of the repayment period. Because of this, the 1.25% difference between APRs is negligible. 

1. si si si, as others have said, look into a new, 0% balance transfer card (your scores are a little low; however, so I am not sure what your chances are of approval and if so, what limit you may be approved for) Citi Diamond Preferred and Wells Fargo Reflect are good options right now for long 0% offers.

2. Contact the lender of this card (I am assuming Truist based on your signature credit lines) with the $4,200 balance and see if your account qualifies for a reduced APR. 

3. ".....just keep paying minimum on card?" If you can, try to pay more than the minimum-every extra $5 can help long term. 

4. If you have $5,000 in savings at NFCU, you could use those funds as security for a secured loan; the APR for up to 60 months would be 2.25% and your funds would still earn the 0.25% dividend while you repay. I am sure that if you had $5,000 in savings you may have just paid off the card, but just in case I thought I would mention it.

So, in reality, my suggestions in order would be 3,2,4 and then 1.