Comments on: Are 0% Balance Transfer Credit Cards for Life Possible?

By: Credit Balance Transfer

Credit Balance Transfer — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:03:08 +0000

You have to be so careful reading the small print!!!

Recently I’ve noticed lenders actually hiking their standard APR rate for balances transferred and not paid off in full during the introductory period. So whereas you’d normally transfer $1000 at 0% APR for 6 months and then go onto standard rate of say 16% APR – now you may well find your original balance transfer being charged at around 18% APR following the intro period until fully paid off!

By: Card

Card — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 07:27:15 +0000

Chase sounds really tricky with making people do a minimum of two transactions a month while they probably have a huge balance on the card.

By: Thirtysomething Finance

Thirtysomething Finance — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:29:26 +0000

Nice work! Are these 0% for life cards, or are they limited to a certain length of time? Do you have to do anything to keep the 0% alive (a la 2 purchases per month)? If so, how do you manage it? Love the 0% card!

By: debtmaven

debtmaven — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:26:18 +0000

I signed up for 2 0% transfer cards in the past year. In January/Febuary I was approved for a 5K Discover card, with a $100 transfer cap (3% up to that amount). Later in the year, in May/June, I was approved for a US Bank card for 10K. They didn’t tell me, but there was a $100 cap on that as well. Yes, I have excellent credit, and yes, I’m in debt! I started with 45K and I’m now down to 37K.

I expect it will get harder to find a 0% card when the offer expires (they are both a year at 0%). They’re probably banking on me sticking with them, and to be honest, I might need to (due to an SBA loan maturing summer next year and no where else to put the money).

I certainly hope that the economic situation improves by May next year so that I can try getting some more 0% transfer rate cards. And FYI, I am NOT racking up new debt, I’ve committed to paying off what I owe, it will just take a few years.

Thanks for the article – I always see the 5% cashback on Discover for their quarterly categories, but I alway decline in using it. I don’t want to get charged more than 5% in interest since it will be some time before I pay off the 0% portion first.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:32:42 +0000

I know a number of people who survive by transfering balances from card to card. I some of them have claimed that they have ended up saving more than they would have paid on interests.
It’s a game that you you have to be very precise to win but most of the time, the big companies win.
I recomend transfer if you are planning to pay the card off without charging it and so save on interest and hope by the time 0% expire you eill have paid it off.

good luck
Joe

By: Joe Morgan

Joe Morgan — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:04:01 +0000

This is just a bad deal.

I have used 0% transfer offers in the past, but I made sure that I didn’t have to make any new purchases and that I paid the balance off before the rate reset. It was great for that. I used it to stop the clock on my interest while I paid off the balance and didn’t use credit cards for the entire time I did it.

I’d take a pass on this one though. My wife recently got a 0.99% transfer offer that had reasonable terms. I’d take that or even a 2.99% over this 0% for life garbage offer.

By: Rick Vaughn

Rick Vaughn — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:33:27 +0000

Interesting move with the paypal payments. Looks like they were quick to close that loophole. I will definitely look into the Discover Card. Does Chase not offer this kind of deal anymore?

By: Credit Card Chaser

Credit Card Chaser — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:10:14 +0000

I tend to agree with you although I never could understand why Discover chose to market the Discover More cards as separate cards when really they are all exactly the same but just with different card designs (withe the exception of the balance transfer differences for the American Flag card that you mentioned).

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:45:08 +0000

So I guess the 0% balance transfer for life really do exists and the paypal transactions are genius!

Next time they offer something like this, I may just have to try it. The way you have it setup, it can almost qualify for passive income.

By: Thirtysomething Finance

Thirtysomething Finance — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:15:58 +0000

Thanks, Daniel, and I think that’s right. It’s like walking half way across the room, then walking half way across again, then again — you never get all the way across! I haven’t reviewed the fine print lately, so there may be a point when I’m required to make a balloon payment; regardless, I will likely just pay the balance in full at some point in the future when I’ve paid down my other, higher interest-bearing debt and/or when I want to re-allocate a monthly payment from my budget.

Funny — I’m working on starting a blog and was actually going to post about this very topic!