The potential downside of transferring a balance to a new credit card must also be considered always, even with a credit card balance transfer offer.
You might be disqualified for a promotional interest rate by your existing debt, income, or credit score, which could lead to you ending up with a higher interest rate. A consumer typically has to have an excellent credit score in order to obtain a low-interest rate balance transfer credit card offer. A regular, higher balance transfer rate of interest is all the consumer will qualify for if their credit score is not appealing.
Balance transfer credit cards can get quite expensive if you don’t know or aren’t aware of what you are doing if it happens to carry an annual fee on top of the balance transfer fee. Before you transfer the balance, you must factor in the full cost of moving your balance to a new card and also be sure to compare the interest you would pay if you were to leave your balance on your old credit card. That’s because, in the long run, situations may arise where it may cost less to leave your balance on the original credit card.
As mentioned earlier, the typical balance transfer credit card fee is from 3 to 5% of the balance you’re transferring or $5, whichever is greater.
It is possible for a credit card balance transfer to hurt your credit score. If you apply for and open a new credit card account, your credit score can be negatively affected by it. In addition, your credit score takes a hit anytime your credit card balance is above 30% of its credit limit. Your credit score could drop if there isn’t sufficient credit available in the credit card that you perform your credit card balance transfer to.
If your credit card payments are timely each month, you not only reduce your balance, you can even wonderfully recover lost points.
You could run the risk of more debt. When you do a credit card balance transfer to a new credit card, you suddenly find yourself with more credit available to you. It takes great discipline in order to overcome the temptation of making purchases on your old credit card, or else your total debt will increase from what you began with. If, in order to remove any temptation of racking up more credit card debt you must close out your old credit card, then so be it.
Since there can be some drawbacks, think about the long-term effect on your finances that doing a balance transfer to a new credit card can have. A balance transfer credit card is the well worth it ideal thing to do if it will ultimately help save you money and help you pay off your credit card debt any faster. After all, that is the main objective, right? Give Start New Financial a call for your free consultation and savings estimate and we promise to provide you all the help you need and more, to help you become free from your debts as soon as possible while saving you the most money too. We offer the best debt relief with our world-class debt settlement program.