• Stocks
  • Commodities
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Forex
  • Real Estate Investing
  • Other Categories
    • Investing Reviews
    • Business
    • Career
    • Credit
    • Debt
    • Financial Advice
    • Investing
    • Real Estate
    • Retirement
    • Modest Money Facebook
    • Modest Money Twitter
    • Modest Money LinkedIn
    • Modest Money RSS Feed

Modest Money

Personal Finance Blog for Everyday People

  • Breaking Investment News
    • All Investing News
    • Commodities News
    • Currencies News
    • Stock Market News
    • Real Estate Investing
  • Hot Investing Tips
    • Using The Graham Formula to Find Underpriced Stocks
    • Why Dividend Growth Investing Works
    • Understanding Your Place in Bull and Bear Markets
    • How a Catalyst Turns into Dollar Signs
    • The Truth About Binary Options – Legit Trading or Scam?
  • Top Investing Books
    • Top 3 Trading Books
    • The Best Books For New Investors
    • The Top 3 Books on House Flipping
  • Recommended Investing Resources
    • Favorite Resources
    • Ally Invest Review
    • Betterment Review
    • Lending Club Review
    • Personal Capital Review
    • TD Ameritrade Review
    • Financial Product Reviews

Compare Balance Transfer Credit Cards

Balance transfer credit cards are an awesome option for those who are unhappy with their current interest rate, or their current lender, or simply want to consolidate their credit card debts into one easy to manage account. These cards are designed to allow consumers to use them to pay off other credit card debts. The process is simple, first, you’ll need to find the balance transfer offer that fits you best. Second, apply for and get approved for the card. Third, call your lender and request a balance transfer.

As with any type of credit card, different offers come with different terms. You may find that some offer promotional interest rates, some charge transfer fees, and some offer rewards, while others don’t. Therefore, when looking for a balance transfer credit card, it’s incredibly important to sift through a few offers and get a good idea of what you want before applying.

What To Compare with Balance Transfer Credit Cards

Promotional Interest Rates – Due to high levels of competition in the balance transfer credit card industry, many lenders started offering promotional interest rates years ago. These are low, often times 0% rates that will generally last anywhere from 6 to 18 months. Although, they aren’t long term rates, 0% for 6 months instead of 18 months could mean that you miss out on hundreds of dollars in savings!

Standard Interest Rates – Once your promotional interest rate expires, you’ll be required to pay the standard interest rate on the remainder of your debt. So, it’s important to not get so excited by whatever promotions may be running that you forget about the standard rates. The bottom line is, no matter how much you plan to have your debt paid off by the end of the promotional period, things happen, and you may find yourself paying the standard rate. That being said, sometimes it’s best to give up 6 months at 0% for a lifetime of 2% to 6% savings.

Transfer Fees – Ahhh, I miss the days of no transfer fees, but those seem to be far behind us at this point. These days, just about every balance transfer credit card will come with a transfer fee. The industry standard is a $15 to $20 minimum or 3% to 5% of the balance being transferred, whichever is greater. In most cases, these fees are absorbed by the savings on interest that you’ll receive, but you don’t want too much of your savings spent on fees do you? That’s why it’s important to look at transfer fees.

Annual Fees – If you find yourself paying an annual fee on a balance transfer credit card, I hate to break the news to you, but you chose the wrong card. There are so many offers out there that don’t charge annual fees these days. Therefore, when you go shopping for a one of these cards, start by avoiding the options that charge annual fees.

Rewards – Most balance transfer credit cards have split personalities these days. On one side, they save you money on interest, allow you to consolidate debt, or switch to a lender that you enjoy rather than one you’re getting tired of. On the other side, many of them also offer great rewards programs. So, if you’ve got a few chosen and you can’t seem to pick one, rewards programs are a great tie breaker.

Compare Other Credit Card Types

  • Airline Credit Cards
  • Cash Back Credit Cards
  • Gas Credit Cards
  • Low Interest Credit Cards
  • Reward Credit Cards
  • Student Credit Cards

Tweet
Share
Pin
Share
+1
0 Shares

Most Popular:

  • Ally investing review
    Ally Invest Review
  • betterment investing review
    Betterment Review
  • Underpriced Stocks Graham Formula
    Top 3 Trading Books Every Trader Should Read
  • Underpriced Stocks Graham Formula
    How to Find Underpriced Stocks Using The Graham Formula
  • Investment Diversification
    Investment Diversification: 5 Risky Mistakes to Avoid
  • dividend growth investing
    Why Dividend Growth Investing Works
  • binary options scam
    The Truth About Binary Options - Legit Trading or Scam?
  • Investing for the Long Term
    Investing for the Long Term: Understanding Your Place in Bull and Bear Markets
  • Should investors buy individual stocks or index funds
    Should Investors Buy Individual Stocks or Index Funds

newsletter

Modest Money Investing News

© 2018 ModestMoney.com – All Rights Reserved.

  • Blog Advertising
  • About us
  • Blogroll
  • Top Finance Blogs
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Sitemap