So I have found myself having the wonderful and rare occurrence of receiving a 0% 12-month balance transfer offer. It would be a great way to consolidate my last couple remaining credit cards that I could not get a 0% offer on. Over the past couple of years I have felt forced to apply for credit cards. I was thoroughly content with the three credit cards I had. Then BofA bought all of the companies that owned my cards and I couldn’t do any balance transfers; they effectively tied my hands into 15-25% interest rates.
So I applied for a Discover Card last year, but I still have a couple cards with balances that I couldn’t make the math work to move around. And since the 12-month offers that I had received are coming to a close, I need the option to move some balances around again. On the surface it seems like a great idea, but I’m still hesitant.
#1: I’m not sure how applying for new credit is going to effect my FICO score, especially now that Experian won’t tell me how it’s effecting me.
#2: I’m not actually getting a 0% offer, but rather a 3% offer due to the balance transfer fees.
#3: With the current economic situation I sometimes feel paralyzed to make a change.
In the end I will make the change, the after BT interest rate would be the best of all my cards. It will be a cash back card, and my goal after paying off all my debt is to never pay full price for anything, and 1-5% back helps me get there.
FYI: I chose not to opt out of pre-screened offers so that I could keep my options open (and my shredder running well). I have received MANY 0.99% and 2.99% offers, which in my mind are still better than the average 10-15% interest rates on credit cards these days, but this was the first 0% offer in over six months, quite a change from before.
