Comments on: Adventures with a 0% APR Credit Card

By: DB

DB — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:04:21 +0000

I’ve been doing the 0% balance transfer thing since 2003. I’m now using business credit cards for temporary financing — at 0%, of course. This way, my consumer cards remain with a $0 balance and my FICO credit score stays sky high.

DB’s last blog post..What A Little Effort Can Do For Debt Reduction

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sat, 17 May 2008 15:27:24 +0000

@DebtFreeDave - I don’t know if that’s necessarily true. I wrote a post on the subject: Do We Spend More When We Swipe Plastic?

Some people do spend more with credit cards, but some people (like me!) spend more when we have cash! Which is why I always carry my card (the one with no balance), but I rarely carry cash, because I know I would just spend it.

You really have to know yourself and know which one you’re more likely to just hand over to buy stuff you don’t really need.

By: DebtFreeDave

DebtFreeDave — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:04:03 +0000

Your best bet is to stay away from those things. It’s just too tempting to buy stuff when it is plastic. The credit card companies know this. They don’t care, they just want to make money off of you.

By: Debt Clinic - James

Debt Clinic - James — Sat, 10 May 2008 22:22:12 +0000

Indeed, my Dad is an actuary and it’s a very high figure of people that start paying high interest on their initial 0% card. As above though if you can take a card and ot use it that can help your credit score loads! Best thing in debt is to try and swing it the other way for a while and live frugal, many sites around to help, money saving expert is the big one!

James

By: Robert Alan

Robert Alan — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 01:11:06 +0000

While most people fully intend to pay off their card balances within the intro period, credit card companies know full well that many people will not. Like insurance companies, card issuers have actuaries that calculate the statistical probability of these scenarios. Much like the casinos house rule of sticking on 17 at blackjack, the house typically wins out on the balance transfer/0 APR game.

Pay more than you think you can afford when paying down your card balances, whether it’s a 0% intro APR or not.

By: Dana

Dana — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:28:54 +0000

Credit cards are great for credit scores if you don’t use them (your credit-debt ratio accounts for about 30 percent of your FICO score), but terrible as a source of loans. Well, I guess they’re better than a payday advance loan, but only in the sense that being nibbled by pirahna beats the heck out of getting your arm torn off by a great white.

And yet… If you ain’t got savings, you do what you have to do.

By: perry williams

perry williams — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:12:19 +0000

i am picking up what you are putting down

http://www.edebtsolutions.org

By: Balance Transfer

Balance Transfer — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:00:27 +0000

You may want to consider a fixed rate balance transfer credit card, if you intend to carry the balance for a longer period.

This type of card is especially helpful if your sum of balance is large and you are unable to pay within the intro period(normally 12 months) given by a 0% credit card.

It offers you a fixed rate on the life of balance transfer card. This will help you plan better as you know the interest rate will not increase for the lifetime of the debt.

By: Cliff

Cliff — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:26:43 +0000

Could have been worse! It’s tempting to max out those 0% cards.

By: Dave Morgan

Dave Morgan — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:03:26 +0000

So, what it really comes down to is we need to get you a higher paying job so you can get everything paid off by next year

It’s tough to get out of the hole when you are a student, and trust me, once those student loans start kickin’ in… sigh… such a pain in the butt.