Credit Cards -- Need Advice

[Chu]

Hello all. I'm in college, and I'm just starting to get myself into trouble /w credit cards, and am trying to put a stop to it now before I get in too deep. I have about $2000 on my cards, and will pretty much have to pay this off at $100 a month 'till I graduiate. The interest is killer though. I have a really good credit raiting for a college student (~700) so i have a good chance to get just about any credit card. My question is, anyone know a site that reviews credit cards? I essentially want to sign up for a new card just to do a balance transfer onto it and get a lower interest rate. I am paying 20% right now.

Of the cards I currently have, the one with the lowest interest is 7%, but they have a 5% change to transfer the balance, which really hurts on $2000. I know most cards offer free balance transfers in the first 30 days, but what are the odds of getting a lower apr then that? I know that 7% is a really good rate for a college student.

-Chu

 

[Red]

I got 0% for 12 months with Citibank @ age 19. $1500 credit line. No fees / BT fees.

Citicards is usually pretty accepting of younger people.

 

[RMSistight]

I got an offer from Fleet bank with 0% APR ALONG WITH 0% balance transfer until February of 2005. Now that is a wicked deal.

$2,000? WTF have you been spending it on? Even I have more self control then that.

 

[m2kewl]

at least you caught the disease early. i had no self control until i'd hit $7500 on CC debt in college. 😱

now i am debt free 😀

 

[MooseKnuckle]

So here's some advice, play the game so to speak and call your current card companies and ask for a lower rate. This works well if you have room on another credit card to transfer that balance to that card. If they don't give you one tell them that you'll be closing your account. They don't want to lose the business, especially if you pay on time. All cc companies have a retention dept. to handle these cases and most will lower your rate and not put up much of a fight. I've been transferring a balance between 3 cards for the last 14 mos. without any interest payments at all. I did this as recently as two weeks ago; I now have no interest and no balance transfer fees till June 2004. When I pay my bill it's all principal and it's nice to only have to make one payment each month. Because I haven't paid interest on any cc debt in 14 mos. my total balance has gone from $14k to just under $5k. Granted my situation is different and I have an income, but the technique is the same. If you want to try and get a NEW lower rate card go here: BankRate.com - Credit Cards You can shop rates especially if your credit rating is good.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

7% is really good and you're likely not going to find a long term rate better than that. The 5% transfer fee is minimal, on $2000 that's only $100. You'll make that up in interest savings, so just bite the bullet, make the switch and write the $100 off as a cheap lesson.

 

[Chu]

Originally posted by: RMSistight
I got an offer from Fleet bank with 0% APR ALONG WITH 0% balance transfer until February of 2005. Now that is a wicked deal.

$2,000? WTF have you been spending it on? Even I have more self control then that.

Let's just say a good number of these ~1000 posts have been in the hot deals forum 😱

-Chu

 

[Chu]

Originally posted by: Redhotjrm
I got 0% for 12 months with Citibank @ age 19. $1500 credit line. No fees / BT fees.

Citicards is usually pretty accepting of younger people.

The 7%apr/5% surcharge on balance transfer is a Citi Platnium Select. My mom applied for the card for me since the application went to my home when I was at college, and I didn't find out about this untill today i.e. about 10 days after the free balance transfer window closed :frown: Wonder if I can call them up and see if they'll still do it for free though . . .

-Chu

 

[kranky]

You said you're paying 20%. Is that the rate you started with, or has it gone up from the original rate for some reason?

 

[Chu]

Originally posted by: kranky
You said you're paying 20%. Is that the rate you started with, or has it gone up from the original rate for some reason?

That's the original rate. It's one of those uber-crappy cards that you need to get when you have zero credit. The 7% apr card is brand new, but too old to do a balance transfer for free (see previous post). That fleer card looks very nice though, if I can get the same deal. Have been doing a little research -- but it doesn't look like something they advertise on their site.

-Chu

 

[Chu]

Really stupid question. You know those checks you get with your credit card statements? If I pay off one credit card with another using those, does that count as a balance transfer? If so, I can just use the check I get with my citi card statement to pay off my other credit cards, and get past the 5% fee . . .

-Chu

 

[MooseKnuckle]

Originally posted by: Chu
Really stupid question. You know those checks you get with your credit card statements? If I pay off one credit card with another using those, does that count as a balance transfer? If so, I can just use the check I get with my citi card statement to pay off my other credit cards, and get past the 5% fee . . .

-Chu

You have to read the fine print...

 

[Chu]

Originally posted by: MooseKnuckle

Originally posted by: Chu
Really stupid question. You know those checks you get with your credit card statements? If I pay off one credit card with another using those, does that count as a balance transfer? If so, I can just use the check I get with my citi card statement to pay off my other credit cards, and get past the 5% fee . . .

-Chu

You have to read the fine print...

Just did a bit after I posted that. Yikes!

-Chu