Archive for the 'Credit Cards' Category

Use Balance Transfer Credit Cards to Your Advantage

If you’re looking for ways to pay down credit card debt, you may want to consider Balance Transfer Credit Cards. Depending on your credit history and other factors, you could qualify for a no cost balance transfer with 0 percent interest for 4, 6 or even 9 months or longer.

Balance transfer cards present a great opportunity to pay down debt you have accumulated on your credit cards. For a set period of time, you are not charged any interest on the balances you transfer to your new card. That means whatever payments you make go straight to paying down principle, provided of course you don’t make any new purchases on the card.

Many different companies offer balance transfer credit cards. You can consider balance transfer offers with St George Credit Cards, NAB credit cards, HSBC credit cards or others.

It is important that you understand the 0 percent interest applies only to your transfer balances, and not new purchases. Most cards apply your payments to new purchases first, then your transfer balances. In addition to having to pay interest on these purchases, you will also miss out on the opportunity to pay down your transfer balances if you make a lot of purchases during the 0 percent interest period.

Although not earning interest is always a good thing, take a close look at what your new interest rate will be when the 0 percent interest rate expires. If it is a lot higher than the rate on your present card and you know you will not pay off the balance during the 0 interest period, the transfer could end up costing you more in interest in the long run.