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banking people...0% apr on cc transfers?


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anyone know what is out there as far as 0%apr on balance transfers. I have two cards with low low balances, but am not real happy paying the apr that I am. long story short i am pissed with the company that holds both the cards, and just out of spite want to cancel both, so i dont pay them a dollar of interest.

 

tom

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http://www.daveramsey.com

I know this maybe a little late, but dont carry a balance. Better yet, dont use credit cards at all.

 

Take the smallest one and throw as much at it as you can. Then once it is paid off use that money you were paying on the small debt and pay toward the next larger. This is called debt snowball. Keep that up until you don't have any debt

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http://www.daveramsey.com

I know this maybe a little late, but dont carry a balance. Better yet, dont use credit cards at all.

 

Take the smallest one and throw as much at it as you can. Then once it is paid off use that money you were paying on the small debt and pay toward the next larger. This is called debt snowball. Keep that up until you don't have any debt

 

i have a debtor im dealing with at work that is doing this, and told me that she wasn't going to pay her debt for 2 months when "she is ready"

 

i told her that was a mistake (like $3k balance), and i was going to send her account to our attorneys for them to sue her. she just sorta said whatever, like she didnt care...sent her the letter saying she had 14 days to pay the balance, if not, off to the attorneys...got a call a few days later "i told you im going to pay this in 2 months!"...tough shit. you had 7 months, im not waiting 2 more

 

i think she has 10 days from now. :)

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yeah, but "0% gamers" are actually doing more harm to their credit by opening/closing accounts so often. from what i've heard too, people who work for some banks in the retention departments can't tell those people that they're actually hurting themselves.

 

the only thing i use my credit cards for is to take advantage of the points system, like my 5/3 CC, every 5k i spend with it, i get a 50$ check, my speedway CC, i get 40 pts for every 1$ spent there (currently have like 39k points, enough to get a 50-75$ speedway gift card), then i have a couple store cards that have a 0% for x months, so its basically free money. i think i've got ~3 years to pay off 900 on the tv i just bought.

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Pay them off and then close them. Opening new credit lines to transfer balances and then closing the old cards is NOT the way to improve your FICO score.

 

Almost any card you apply for will offer 0% balance transfers and will send you checks that can be drawn against the credit line. I think this is fucking stupid and recommend you stab yourself in the nuts first, but hey, if it's whatcha gotta do...

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i have a debtor im dealing with at work that is doing this, and told me that she wasn't going to pay her debt for 2 months when "she is ready"

 

i told her that was a mistake (like $3k balance), and i was going to send her account to our attorneys for them to sue her. she just sorta said whatever, like she didnt care...sent her the letter saying she had 14 days to pay the balance, if not, off to the attorneys...got a call a few days later "i told you im going to pay this in 2 months!"...tough shit. you had 7 months, im not waiting 2 more

 

i think she has 10 days from now. :)

On the larger debts, you still need to make minimum payments during that.

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yeah, but "0% gamers" are actually doing more harm to their credit by opening/closing accounts so often. from what i've heard too, people who work for some banks in the retention departments can't tell those people that they're actually hurting themselves.

 

the only thing i use my credit cards for is to take advantage of the points system, like my 5/3 CC, every 5k i spend with it, i get a 50$ check, my speedway CC, i get 40 pts for every 1$ spent there (currently have like 39k points, enough to get a 50-75$ speedway gift card), then i have a couple store cards that have a 0% for x months, so its basically free money. i think i've got ~3 years to pay off 900 on the tv i just bought.

 

IMO with the whole points thing, its almost better to find 1 GOOD points cc or bank card and use that for everything you can. The GF and I both have National City and they let you link 2 seperate accounts that live in the same household for the points benifits. We had 125k points after about 2 yrs and cashed out for $350 worth of BP gas cards for our trip to FL this year.

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well, the 5/3 CC i use if im going to make a large purchase, and then just pay it off a couple days later (like when we bought a 700$ mattress). the gas card i use weekly and pay it off at the end of the month. the other 2 were free money with the 0% for so many months.

 

i understand what you're saying though.

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Pay them off and then close them. Opening new credit lines to transfer balances and then closing the old cards is NOT the way to improve your FICO score.

 

Just to clarify. Why would you pay off a CC or line of credit you've had with a particular company for x amount of years then immediatly close the account? You would then lose all credit history you have with that account. As long as your not carrying a balance and there aren't any annual fee's keep the account active just dont use it. That would reflect positively on your FICO score, yes?

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the best way is to keep a small balance and pay it off monthly. yes, it may cost you a buck or two per month, but inactivity doesnt look great. if you have a $1,000 balance, put 75$ on it, and make the minimum payments monthly.

 

at any point, both my store cards and 1 credit card have a balance. granted, i pay off the CC monthly so im not getting charged interest, i have a balance the next month, which is another way to show constant activity.

 

i haven't pulled my cbr lately since i just got my circuit city and speedway card within the last couple months.

 

im hoping when i do pull it maybe turn of the year, ive got a decent score.

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Tom, if the balances are low, pay them off. The thing that will hurt the creditor most is a large payment on your balance, and make it on time so they don't charge you late fees. Toughen up and learn to use cash for everything. Read Dr. Rick's link and do what Dave Ramsey says. It sucks to hear, but it's good advice.

 

Evan, if I were a debtor and you told me over the phone that you were going to sue me, I would immediately file in small claims and either have my debt wiped from your company if below $1K, or reduced significantly if over. Yes, I know if you intend to sue you are not breaking the law, but your company would settle before we got that far because the threat is questionable.

 

Anyone else who would like more information about how to improve your credit score, I can make a new thread. In March I had $21K in charged off debt and several thousand dollars in credit card debt; also a credit score so low I could not get a home equity loan. In June I had paid all of those paid off ($0 balance) and had a credit score in the 700's.

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I've gotten 3 12 month 0% BT offers in the mail the past week. Discover, BoA, and AMEX.

 

As said, don't kill the cards if they are your older tradelines... that would do more harm than good to your credit score. You can keep it open but not use it, the bank won't make any money off of you just the same as canceling the cards. Unless of course if there is an annual fee.

 

For a good credit score it's best to use the card at least once every few months and to keep the card issuer from dropping your account. There is no need to carry a balance as that information isn't contained in the reports (only the current balance is reported.) If anything, carrying a balance will hurt as your revolving credit utilization could report higher, and high utilization is one of the worst hits.

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yeah, but "0% gamers" are actually doing more harm to their credit by opening/closing accounts so often. from what i've heard too, people who work for some banks in the retention departments can't tell those people that they're actually hurting themselves.

 

No, the only time it hurts your credit is when you have too many credit cards open. so just don't keep all 5 or 6 or whatever credit cards. They don't get mad at you for finding a better deal. Now if after that year you stop making a payment, and then transfer...yeah thats bad

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No, the only time it hurts your credit is when you have too many credit cards open. so just don't keep all 5 or 6 or whatever credit cards. They don't get mad at you for finding a better deal. Now if after that year you stop making a payment, and then transfer...yeah thats bad

 

The length of time your account has been open has a significant effect on your score, so you are technically incorrect. By opening a new account and closing the old one(s) you are negatively impacting your score.

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@Ryan - I wouldn't close an older account BUT the OP wants to close them "out of spite" so that's why I suggested that.

 

Your FICO is determined by a number of factors. The number of years you have had credit is calculated by the oldest line on your account whether it's closed or not.

 

Putting $75 on a card and making payments is not good and will not help. Having a balance at all is negative. I have a few cards with > $25K lines and my score is affected if I have a $40 balance on one of them.

 

I can't get into this now - but I have some paperwork from myfico.com that explains exactly what things hurt and help your score.

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