Saturday, August 9, 2008

Why a Balance Transfer Can Be a Good Idea

The idea with which the credit card was created was to let you have access to some money even if you do not have that money, but mostly to make more money for the banks. A lot of times the first credit card one will get it is going to have a high APR and interest rates in general. Thus if you use 1,000 from the bank's money through your credit card you will most probably have to pay around 1,500 or even more back, depending on the monthly payments that you are making. This is why a lot of time financial institutions and well as other organizations will try to offer advice on how to use a credit card wisely what to do and what not to do with it. And even though the banks themselves offer these tips, they also offer you all kinds of irresistible deals that can make you use more than you can afford. One of the big NO-s when you have a credit card is using it for everything. An important thing to keep in mind is that if you do have to make monthly payments toward your credit card account and you fail to make them in time, it will appear in your credit card report and lower your score.

No matter how wisely you are using your credit card there are situations when you have to spend more money than you can afford and then the problem that appears is how to give it all back in time without missing payments and without acquiring penalties and lowering your credit score. It is here where a balance transfer can come into view and can be turned into a good thing. A balance transfer is actually a credit card balance transfer which means that you can transfer the balance from this credit card to the credit card you already have in order to pay your debt. Sometimes, if used wisely, the credit card balance transfer can be a good idea and it can help you without lowering your credit score. Since the first credit card is the hardest one to get and since there are a lot of financial institutions willing to give you a credit card, getting a credit card balance transfer is not difficult at all. However before you apply for one make sure you do your homework and choose the one that is actually going to help you instead of putting you even more in debt.

Credit card transfer balance is just another type from the multitude of credit cards available on the market today. However in this case it is possible to find card with very low interest rate and with relatively big grace periods. However one should read the fine print before getting one because while it is true that you can use it to your benefit it is also true that it can turn against you especially if you do not know how to use it. In order to get you to apply for a credit card bank transfer most of the providers will give you free balance transfers. The first few months that are called grace period the charges will be extremely low on the transferred balance. This period is usually between six to 12 months and it is a great opportunity for you to pay your debt while avoiding big interest rates. In this way you can actually end up saving some of the money that you would have otherwise given to the bank as interest rate or other fees.

So when you look for a credit card balance transfer make sure you search for one with no interest rate or very low ones, the cards that do not charge any transfer fee and always make sure you read and understand everything before you sign up for it. Also always try to do the math and see if signing up for a credit card balance transfer is going to work for you or not. The idea is to actually save as much money as possible and not to end up paying more and hurt your credit score in the same time.