<< Back to all Blogs
Login or Create your own free blog
Layout:
Home > Balance Transfers

Balance Transfers

March 6th, 2007 at 12:05 am

An update to the debt tracker as Wednesday's payday looms on the horizon. I was able to transfer $4000 from card #1 to the wife's card which had no balance and a $4500 limit and get a 5.82 APR for the life of the transfer (a current promotion from Chase!) This will allow me to cut 4k off of my utilization (so we go from around 80 percent to 60 percent on that card.) I will have to pay off the Chase card but we can put it to the back of the pack since the APR is low and it lasts forever.

She also was approved for a $3000 card with a 0 APR for 12 months on all balance transfers and we are transferring the bulk of a card that has an expiring 0 offer in August (which the rate then jumps to 24 percent!) So even though we haven't been able to make payments yet we are saving ourselves a lot in interest! That's the name of the game for us right now.

Posted in Watch our debt go to zero! | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “Balance Transfers”

  1. baselle Says:
    March 6th, 2007 at 04:02 am 1173153734
    1173153734

    Arranging the interest rates is fine but unless you actually pay it down, you're not swimming anywhere, you're just treading water.

  2. I-78 Commute Says:
    March 6th, 2007 at 04:10 am 1173154200
    1173154200

    Yep I know...I figure I can move these debts back to the rear of the line and knock down the highest interest cards first. I think anytime I can cut the amount of interest I am paying it means less goes to the banks and more goes to the back pocket. If I can get a better interest rate on a balance I would not be shy about doing it!

  3. I-78 Commute Says:
    March 6th, 2007 at 03:48 pm 1173196134
    1173196134

    Hi Cat...thanks for the reply. I know that $300 would go a long way to shortening up the amount of time it takes to repay the debt but I have really been neglecting my 401k (even though the wife has been diligent about hers...I've been fleeting) and I felt like I had to start contributing again. I agree though I could wait to get back in since I've waited this long and attack the debt. It's a good suggestion that I will keep in mind (we can only change the contribution twice a year...but that's changing I think starting in a couple of weeks. We have a meeting to discuss how we will now be able to control our 401k contributions and allocation online.)

    I've read the TG in the past and I do think there was a lot of good info there. I know she has the book out where she kind of put everything together. It might be worth a read (I bargain hunt for books already!) Thanks again for the help it is much appreciated.

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]