Best Strategy to use when Balance Transfers don't Cover all of my CC Balances?

[leo222]

Hi all, so I started earlier this year with aroune $18-20k in CC debt. I have since paid that down to about $10,500. The APR's are not horrible (13.49% and 10.99%), but I still opted for balance transfers, and was approved for Chase Slate ($1700) and AMEX Everyday ($5000) - AMEX actually approved me for $7000, but they have a limit of $5000 for BT's. Both of these BT offers are 0% interest for 15 months, and have 0 balance transfer fees.

So obviously, once these are applied, I will still have some debt that is accruing interest, and I'm wondering what the best strategy is here...Should I pay the minimum on my BT cards initially, and concentrate my money on the portion that is accruing interest? Or, should I apply for another BT card for the remainder of the debt? I probably wouldn't be able to get another no fee BT card, and would probably get one with a 3% BT fee.

I have really improved credit (around 730 for FICO and Vantage), so If I have anything left on my BT cards after 15 months, I could always get another BT card to cover those.

[OmarGB9]

I would focus on the part that's accruing interest while still making at least the minimum on the 0%, but of course if you can do more than the minimum on those, then definitely do so.

However, I strongly advise AGAINST taking up Amex on a BT...yes they're offering it to you, but in reality they don't like that and look down upon those that use them for BTs. They're not like Discover or Cap One or Barclays when it comes to BT offers.

[Shooting-For-800]

Another option is to open a card with 0% for 12 or 15 or 18 months and use it to pay for EVERYTHING.

Use the money you would have spent to pay down the highest interest cards.

Of course you will need to budget to pay all your cards within a certain amount of time to limit your interest expenses.

GL!

[Anonymous]

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@leo222 wrote:

Hi all, so I started earlier this year with aroune $18-20k in CC debt. I have since paid that down to about $10,500. The APR's are not horrible (13.49% and 10.99%), but I still opted for balance transfers, and was approved for Chase Slate ($1700) and AMEX Everyday ($5000) - AMEX actually approved me for $7000, but they have a limit of $5000 for BT's. Both of these BT offers are 0% interest for 15 months, and have 0 balance transfer fees.

So obviously, once these are applied, I will still have some debt that is accruing interest, and I'm wondering what the best strategy is here...Should I pay the minimum on my BT cards initially, and concentrate my money on the portion that is accruing interest? Or, should I apply for another BT card for the remainder of the debt? I probably wouldn't be able to get another no fee BT card, and would probably get one with a 3% BT fee.

I have really improved credit (around 730 for FICO and Vantage), so If I have anything left on my BT cards after 15 months, I could always get another BT card to cover those.

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You didn't mention what the other two cards that have balances remaining on them left behind are, but presumably given what the rates you've got are they likely aren't store cards or something along those lines.  I'm guessing (hoping) they're from more mainstream institutions.

Reason being, is that I agree with what Omar said without a doubt.  While Amex may not "like it" that you use their card for a BT, if you can finish up that last bit of a debt quicker without having to pay interest, I'm sure they'll like you just fine again down the road when you're debt free with a killer score haha (just my opinion there anyway).

In addition to that however, the reason I brought up the other cards hopefully being the above is because instead of looking for another BT offer on a new card, if you've already come to grips with the fact that you'll have to pay that 3% fee then give this a shot.

Pay off what you can with the $5k & $1.7k BT's with the other guys.  Then wait about a month and give each of them a call back and ask if you can do a BT or a DD (direct deposit) at a promotional rate on each of the cards.  So to make that make a little more sense...let's say one of the other cards is a discover card and it has $2k left behind on it and the other card is a BofA card with $2k left behind on it.  Ask BofA if they'll do a $2k BT or DD at a promotional rate to pay of Discover and then call Discover and see if they'll send BofA $2k in the form of a BT (or a DD and you handle it yourself).  Essentially just swap the balances.  Just be mindful a DD typically having a higher go to rate than a flat out BT.

[leo222]

Hey guys, just to clarify, it's $4700 on a Discover (13.49 APR), and $5800 on a Logix Mastercard (10.99 APR).

[leo222]

Hmmm...So this is really cool update! Just got my Chase Slate in the mail today, and my Balance Transfer is actually $4750, instead of $1700.

When I initially applied for the card, I got a measly $1700...I called to complain, and they did a credit line increase request...I got the usual 7-10 day message, so I thought that I wouldn't get anything more, but yeah...Looks like I got a nice surprise.

On the Chase Slate paperwork, it still says that my limit is $1700, but on the website, I actually have $5000 available ($4750 for BT's).

[sccredit]

Use what you can on balance transfers and then pay the minimums on those while attacking the interest bearing balances.  Youve already cut your debt in half, just keep the momentum going.

[leo222]

Another great update is that the FICO score Chase provided me with on the Chase Slate application was actually 743! That's higher than my 730ish Vantage score.

[OmarGB9]

That's a good score, but just keep in mind that score Chase gave you is very similar to a VantageScore, because it is an internal Chase score. Not a FICO.