Here at OMAAT our focus is typically on discussing how to maximize credit card rewards points, rather than discussing the potentially lucrative financing opportunities that some people take advantage of through credit cards.
Continue reading: 6 Best 0% Intro APR Credit Cards (With No Annual Fees!)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Curious if anyone has an anecdotal account of what happened to their credit score after racking up a big balance on one of these 0% PERSONAL cards?
One thing you didn't include is that, afaik, all those cards are 0% APR but do have balance transfer fees. Bank of America has a card that is 0% intro APR plus 0% intro balance transfer fee.
I'll emphasize what you said about knowing the dates. I once did this, got a little confused and ended up having to pay interest at the end. It turns out the end date of the intro APR is included in the statement.
@Ben
the credit score change all depends on many factors. It's going to hurt the score but it depends on your overall credit line availability and utilization ratio. Say you have $200k total credit line available and you have no other significant balance, maxing out on 1 card for $10K balance isn't going to make any much difference.
As Joseph mentioned above, I recently took advantage of a BofA card that has intro 0% balance transfer fee and transferred about $45000 worth of dept there. I have sizable credit card debt that I've been floating on number of credit cards with 0% APR but have been paying between 1-3% fee as I find that cheaper than getting a home equity loan (no I am not in a financial trouble as I could easily pay this off but I decided to invest in stock instead and did pretty well over the years)
$45000 balance transfer at 3% would have been $1350 in fee so I essentially got one of the most lucrative signing bonus on a card that didn't have any signing bonus and without any spending!
"Use Credit Card Financing Responsibly"
I find this to be an oxymoron. Buying something you can't afford is not responsible.
"only use credit cards if their use doesn’t cause you to spend more than you’d otherwise spend"
How can you even say this? This flies directly in the face of recommending 0% financing on credit cards, because if you didn't have the 0% card to finance on, you wouldn't be spending that money.
"It occurred to me that I’ve never before written about credit card 0% intro APR offers"
Yeah, because you are a points and miles enthusiast, not a "finance stuff" enthusiast. I hope it stays that way, because this article sounds like it's coming from the banking industry, not the travel industry.
The Amex every day card has a great offer right now. $0 balance transfer fee, no interest on transfers and new purchases for 15 months, AND a 10,000 point bonus if you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months. This is far more compelling than some that you listed that hit you with a 3-5% balance transfer fee.
Sincerely, please be cautious about writing posts with a financial slant. Quite a few facts and caveats missing, ie. balance transfer fees, difference between promo interest vs deferred interest promos, etc.
Also, BIG miss: balance transfers don't generally count as eligible spending/purchases towards any sign up bonus.
Love your site. Any reason you're the only one writing these days?
Big advantage for this retiree: since the money to pay off the card comes from an IRA, spreading payments across two tax years keeps us in a lower tax bracket each year. This would be just as true for someone who will be drawing from an investment account to pay a large bill.
Big caveat: never use a balance transfer card for spending till the balance transfer is paid off. If you do, your minimum-ish payment goes to pay down the 0% piece, while your purchases accrue high interest. Put NOTHING ELSE on a balance transfer card till the balance transfer is paid off.