How to Lighten Your Debt: Try Credit Card Balance Transfers

Credit card companies are losing so much nowadays because of the recession. This is why interest rates are rising, late fees, and other penalties are being piled up on consumers. So many people are looking for a solution to their seemingly impossible unpaid debt. One solution people use are credit card balance transfers. If you have a big debt on one card, you can open up another and transfer your balance to that one.

Wait a minute, does this sound logical? Why would anyone who already has bad debt in one card open up another credit card account. This is a special case however and doing this will help lessen your debt significantly.

The credit card industry is very competitive. There are more than two hundred major U.S. credit card companies in existence. This is the key to why the balance transfer was invented in the first place. It’s because credit card companies would love you to sign in with them and leave their competitors, they offer credit card balance transfers for free. Once this process is complete and your debt is transferred to their bank, you will be given a longer time frame (which is usually half a year) wherein your new bank will be charging you way less than your original bank. Sometimes, the interest rates of these kinds of deals can be as low as one percent or even zero percent.

Now can you see how this process can save you lots of money? It is sort of like a reset button on your soaring interest rate. Once you do the transfer, you will be given a breather and you will be able to recuperate and concentrate on earning more money. This is a great tactic for people whose debt is starting to grow and whose interest rates are getting jacked up due to defaults. All you have to do is make sure you end your original account afterwards and you can rest easy knowing your debt isn’t growing while you sleep.

There is a catch though. You need to do some good research. You have to read and fully understand the terms and fine print of the new account you are transferring your balance to. There are instances when banks hide charges within the miniscule print and technical jargon. There are also instances when a bank will have a transfer fee that is proportionate to the amount of the credit card balance transfers. Depending on your situation, this might cost you a lot more and you might not save any money at all. Just see if there is a limit or a cap on the fee if your transfer is large. And as usual, you have to check the bank’s yearly charge. These banks might give you a small interest rate but will charge a lot for the annual.