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Credit card transfer balance questions...

Hey ladies. Thanks for the support yesterday with my dumb credit card late fee. Long story short, they're still trying to charge us even though we've made *9* payments in 6 months in excess of $7k!! I don't understand their logic and the lady was being a bit mean with me (which i can't stand) so i'm going to have DH call and tackle this problem. Big Smile

Now on to my question...this pisses me off. (okay, that was more of a statement...) It's making me think of transferring the balance to another credit card. This card with the late fee has a 22% interest rate and the one i want to transfer it to has a 6% or 9% interest rate, i can't remember right now. Once i transfer, that pretty much cancels the other card, right? Will that screw up my credit score? I keep hearing differing opinions on cancelling or not cancelling credit cards and if it will or won't hurt your credit score.

I have no idea what my/our score is. My dad is trying to get me to do the free credit checks just to get an idea. DH and i are in *no* position to be buying property or a car or anything big like that, but what if we want to someday? Will this screw us?

Sorry it's so long. Tongue Tied

TIA!!

Re: Credit card transfer balance questions...

  • First, I'm right there with you with the mean customer service people. I've either reacted by getting really mad at them or breaking down and crying on the phone!!! why do they have to be so awful??

    Advice: About 5-6months ago I got an offer for a Chase (our bank) credit card with 0% interest until April 2010. We had two credit cards with substantial balances (1600 & 4K) that I was finding more and more difficult to pay off when the interest was basically cutting our payments in half! So after a big discussion with our financial advisor, aka FIL, I switched the high balance credit card to the chase one. He said that it is ok to do this once in awhile (maybe every few years) as long as its for a super beneficial situation like having a much lower interest rate so you can pay off faster. We still have the high interest credit card - we've kept them all open with just a $0 balance. This is actually good for your credit score in some ways - it shows you can have credit available, but that your not maxed out. (ratio of debt owed to available credit). Anyways....we have since paid off the 1600 credit card and the chase card transferred is less than half the original balance in less than 5 months! Our goal is to have zero credit card debt by the end of July.

    sorry....I really started rambling...hope this helps! p.s. to find out your actual credit score you have to pay around $7 - 9. the free credit report does not show the actual score, just everything else.

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  • Thanks! That's totally helpful! Big Smile And yeah, my dad mentioned the difference between the free credit checks and the ones you have to pay for.
  • Transfer the balance but don't close the credit card - just leave it open with a zero balance. Have a lot of *available* credit actually helps your credit score, so having an open credit card with nothing on it is a good thing. Closing cards with no balances actually hurts your score, I'm not sure why, but I know it's better to leave it open than to close it.
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  • Definitely transfer the balance to a lower APR card. If you're not buying a house in the next couple of months, the small ding to your credit won't matter. You will save a lot in interest payments.

    What I would do before transferring is to call the 1st CC company and ask them to remove the late fee and lower your APR or you will transfer the balance (speak to a manager - they are the only ones who can authorize). They might do it. If they don't, transfer and then again ask 1st CC company to lower APR. Tell them you will never use the card again if they don't.

    Ditto everyone else, don't close 1st card.

    Good luck. Remember, you're the one with the power in this situation. They want your business and it costs them money to replace you as a customer.

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