Interest Free Balance Transfers
Few people are aware of this, but interest free balance transfers are used to bring people to a lender, kind of a loss-leader kind of offer that a grocery stores offers. To be eligible for this type of offer your credit has to be excellent, or at least very good to be approved. Those who are already in trouble with many late fees, or worse probably cannot use this method, as they will not qualify in most cases.
You should investigate various credit cards to find one that offers you interest free balance transfers for the longest amount of time. An interesting caveat is to be extremely careful when the promotion will expire. If they offer you interest free balance transfers for only 3 months, that basically useless unless you know that you are due for some kind of windfall and then will pay off the debt in one foul swoop.
Remember that the teaser rates they are offering you, such as interest free balance transfers, are an inducement to get your business. Thus, this will work out the best for you if you use this leveraging principle with the idea of perhaps moving the balance transfer when you are nearing the end of the introductory rate.
You will need to always stay on top of the offers being made by various credit card companies. You also need to be aware that there is usually a charge for transferring a balance, and you need to look at what percentage that charge is in relation to the amount being transferred. For example if you are transferring $10,000 and the transaction fee to do so is $200, then the $200 is actually only 2% of the $10,000. In essence, you are paying an interest rate of 2%. If the transfer involved an existing interest rate on that $10,000 balance on your credit card as high as 20% for instance, then you would save 18% interest for one year!
You will want to center your investigations on the card companies that offer little or no interest for the longest period of time. The transfer fee may be almost insignificant if you are moving large amounts of money as in the example above. With smaller amounts, the transfer fee may not be as little in comparison to the amount you are borrowing, thus you will need to wield a calculator to check each offer.
