• disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Please, for the sake of Pete, do not carry a sizable balance on a 22% card. Find another lender with a free balance transfer and 0% interest, transfer, pay down the principal, and repeat.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      That’s the standard rate…

      Those 0% turn into like 22% after the first uear. And while I have no recent experience I think they’ve started paying attention to balance transfer to keep no interest.

      The absolute lowest “best” cards are still high teens.

      https://www.forbes.com/advisor/credit-cards/best/low-interest/

      If someone is carrying a balance (you should never do that) then you either need to abuse balance transfer grace periods or sack up and get a real loan from a bank. Although right now that would probably still suck.

      I don’t know why everytime I talk about how ridiculous credit card interest is, someone who doesn’t know how bad it is tells me that it’s actually better.

      But it happens every fucking time

      • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Right. I don’t carry balances either, but we’re talking workarounds. Loans are ideal if you have collateral. No argument there. Otherwise I’m suggesting opening a new card with 0% into APR, transfer, and pay down the principal over the interest free period. The slight ding to your credit from opening a new card will be offset by the greater credit to debt ratio and bounce back in 4-6 months.

        • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Otherwise I’m suggesting opening a new card with 0% into APR, transfer, and pay down the principal over the interest free period.

          And you can do that…

          But in the terms and agreements there’s stuff about abusing it by continuously bouncing it around.

          Has been for at least 20 years. They used to not care, but like I just said I believe some do now.

          Like cellphones used to have a deal when you brought a line over so people always switched. So cell phones started denying people if they saw the number always bounced.

          Credit card companies can see the paper trail. If they wanted to, they could go after people if the same money came back to one of their cards.

          And those are usually closer to 30% than 22%, and they can wait till month 11 and charge 30% compound back to when you transfered the money in.

          I didn’t want to type all that, so I just said:

          And while I have no recent experience I think they’ve started paying attention to balance transfer to keep no interest.

          Hoping that would get the point across…

          • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            I didn’t realize by paying attention you meant implementing penalization. I follow now. So yes, in that case you’re right. The better option would certainly be a loan.