Using student loan to pay off credit card

[Anonymous]

My only debt besides student loans is a credit card balance of $4,400 at a nominal 12.65% APR. It has been lowering over the past 2 years because I pay more than what's due and on time every month (from ~16%-12.65%). I will have to take out an alternative student loan or graduate plus loan (with a fixed 8.5% interest rate) to finance the remainder of my cost of attendance this year. I can take up to ~$15,000 if I wanted to but I will not take out nearly that much. Maybe $5000. The question is should I take out more and pay off my credit card balance since the APR is fixed and lower than the credit card APR? Also, if I do take out this extra, should I pay the credit card off all at once or hold on to the funds and pay it off over the course of say, a year?

[Takunda1]

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kboo wrote:

My only debt besides student loans is a credit card balance of $4,400 at a nominal 12.65% APR. It has been lowering over the past 2 years because I pay more than what's due and on time every month (from ~16%-12.65%). I will have to take out an alternative student loan or graduate plus loan (with a fixed 8.5% interest rate) to finance the remainder of my cost of attendance this year. I can take up to ~$15,000 if I wanted to but I will not take out nearly that much. Maybe $5000. The question is should I take out more and pay off my credit card balance since the APR is fixed and lower than the credit card APR? Also, if I do take out this extra, should I pay the credit card off all at once or hold on to the funds and pay it off over the course of say, a year?

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Read the fine print on your loan first. It may be a breach of contract to use that money to pay off your card. You can also call your credit car company & tell them that due to tough economic conditions, you'd like them to stop charging interest on your balance. Tell them you don't want to go in default but the interest makes it difficult to contiue paying. YOu'll be surprised , they may drop your interest rate to about 3%. int tunr you obviously cannot use the card until the debt is paid off.