0% balance transfer CC

[tripods68]

I have $16K balance on our car loan @ 5.49% 2.2 years left. I like to transfer this remaining balance to a credit card. Has anyone received credit card offers with 0% balance transfer with NO transfer fee recently? I like to pay this in full within 14 to 18 months so far I haven't found a credit that extend offers greater than 12 months. I don't mind waiting for a promo offers but it's costing me about $79.00 a month on interest carrying this loan in the mean time.

I appreciate your input.

[mladyd]

1 year seems to be the limit on most things these days. And all the offers I've seen have some kind of fee but there is a maximum amount that can vary from offer to offer. The one I just got from Discover has a $75 max transfer fee, which is less than 1 month of your interest and would be worth it if you could get it done 12 months!

[JDavis68]

I agree. It's getting pretty bad out there!

[maat55]

My guess is that the CC companies added the 3% transfer fee to eliminate people from using 0% money for high yield savings investments.

You might use the card to payoff as much as you can pay in 12 months and leave the rest on the note. I personally would just vigorously pay the note off. The 3% transfer fee is a deal breaker for me.

[Tree0164]

I wouldn't do that transfer to a credit card. Most credit cards only 6-12 month offers on 0% rate and if they see one thing on your credit report-boom your interest rate goes up.

I would focus on being aggressive on getting the car paid off rather than put it on a credit card.

[gumkin]

I don't know of a fee-free BT offer longer than 15 months but here are two offers you might like.

The first is a 15 month offer with a $75 fee. It is a business card so it will not show up on your credit report. I am a new member so I cannot add a link to my post. juniper.com bank atlantic 15 month

If you don't want to get a business card, here is a 12 month offer with no fee. associated bank citibank.com 0%

Both these cards usually give generous credit lines so it shouldn't be a problem, but don't use more than 89% of your credit line (especially on a personal card) for the blance transfer or it will really hurt your credit score.

[tripods68]

Thanks Jeffrey for allowing gumkin to post those links.
This all good info guys.

The biggest concern I have is after 15 months 0% introductory ends. I supposed we could pay it all off before it ends, OR do another transfer for the another 6 months.

$16,767.19 (Car note balance)
- $12,000.00 ($800.00 a month pmt @ 0% interest X 15 months)
= $4,769.19 remaining balance

We'll probably saved around $700 to $800 on interest alone.

That's still not bad.

[Coleroo]

I just did a 0% for 12 month "no fee" balance transfer for our remaining credit card debt back in June. It was a "platinum" card from CitiBank or something like that.

Last month I consolidated the remaining debt from from our car loans - 3000 on one and 4,500 on another for a lifetime low interest rate. That one, however, had a 3% BT xfer fee without a cap.

The "no fee" balance transfers are dissapearing, and the $75 cap is dissappearing even faster!

Have you googled? Anytime I need a new no fee xfer, I spend some time wading through google search results for "no fee balance transfer" and i'm usually able to find one. I've always had the best "no fee" luck with citibank and discover.

[cptacek]

Why don't you pay the regular bill until you get to the point where the 12 month interest free transfer will pay it off? For instance, if the regular payment is $800, once the car balance is $9600, transfer the entire balance and pay off the credit card in a year? That way you won't have to worry about finding yet another card to transfer the balance to.

[gumkin]

Here is a way you could extend the time you have a 0% balance transfer. Apply for 2 cards with 0% offers, just make sure one is a Citi card like the one linked above (Associate Bank Citi). With Citi cards the offer is good for 12 months from the date of the first balance transfer as long as it is done within 12 months of getting the card. That means you could get the card now and just let it sit for 11 months, then balance transfer to it and still have 12 months at 0%.

So if you got two cards now, you could balance transfer to one card then in 11 months balance transfer to the Citi card. That way you would get about 23 months at 0%. You wouldn't have to worry about finding another 0% offer before the first one expires.