If you're like me, you get a bunch of credit card deals in the mail. A lot of people consider them junk mail and toss them. I try to at least glance at them because every so often comes something worth jumping on. I did recently and will save a couple of thousand dollars on my home equity line-of-credit interest this year!
I had been getting envelopes from Washington Mutual that had been offering a 0% on purchases for a year if you transferred a balance -- but the balance transfer rate was 9.9%. So that wasn't going to be a great deal. I have credit cards I use for purchases which I pay off each month so I'm not paying interest on those purchases. So those Washington Mutual offers weren't giving me any big advantage. But then one day I spotted an envelope with a different offer... 0% on balance transfers for a year, and allowing a credit line up to $30,000.
The only cost was a balance transfer fee of 3% with a maximum fee of $75. I did a quick calculation in my head, and since I'm at 6.99% on my equity line, I knew it was just about $2100 interest I could avoid paying by transferring. And since it's a equity line-of-credit, at the end of the year I'd have the flexibility to transfer it back. That way I wouldn't be stuck paying some higher interest rate on the credit card down the line.
So I made the call, verified that the balance transfer could be to an equity line and not just to another credit card account (they said it could) so I applied. I didn't want to push the envelope too much but I wanted to make sure I got as much of a credit line as possible, so I told them I would be transferring $25,000. They told me that if approved, I would get a chance to review the transfer one more time before it was processed -- an added chance to think things through. I was happy when I found they gave me the maximum line available. That meant I could up the balance transfer to just under $30,000 (they needed $100 left untapped and there was the $75 fee). I called, they took the revised information and the balance transfer went through without a hitch.
So over the next year, that'll help keep my home equity interest at $2100 less than it would've been.
My advice is to keep giving at least a look at the stuff that looks like junk mail -- it might contain gold!
I had been getting envelopes from Washington Mutual that had been offering a 0% on purchases for a year if you transferred a balance -- but the balance transfer rate was 9.9%. So that wasn't going to be a great deal. I have credit cards I use for purchases which I pay off each month so I'm not paying interest on those purchases. So those Washington Mutual offers weren't giving me any big advantage. But then one day I spotted an envelope with a different offer... 0% on balance transfers for a year, and allowing a credit line up to $30,000.
The only cost was a balance transfer fee of 3% with a maximum fee of $75. I did a quick calculation in my head, and since I'm at 6.99% on my equity line, I knew it was just about $2100 interest I could avoid paying by transferring. And since it's a equity line-of-credit, at the end of the year I'd have the flexibility to transfer it back. That way I wouldn't be stuck paying some higher interest rate on the credit card down the line.
So I made the call, verified that the balance transfer could be to an equity line and not just to another credit card account (they said it could) so I applied. I didn't want to push the envelope too much but I wanted to make sure I got as much of a credit line as possible, so I told them I would be transferring $25,000. They told me that if approved, I would get a chance to review the transfer one more time before it was processed -- an added chance to think things through. I was happy when I found they gave me the maximum line available. That meant I could up the balance transfer to just under $30,000 (they needed $100 left untapped and there was the $75 fee). I called, they took the revised information and the balance transfer went through without a hitch.
So over the next year, that'll help keep my home equity interest at $2100 less than it would've been.
My advice is to keep giving at least a look at the stuff that looks like junk mail -- it might contain gold!
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