Balance Transfer....which offer makes more sense?

[cristina47454]

I want to BT 10k from a 12% card. The two offers I have are 0% for 12months with a 3% transfer fee, or 0% for 18 months with a 5% transfer fee. After the promotional period, the interest rate shoots up to 16%, so I NEED to pay it off before the promotional period expires, or else BT it again (probably at another 3% fee) to a different card.  Could someone walk me through the math? DH says 3% for 12 months is ABOUT 4.5% for 18 months, so it's pretty much a wash. Is he right? Is that how it works?

To pay it off in 12 months, I'd have to pay about $860/month.  To pay it off in 18 months, it'd be $583/mo, which would obviously not be quite so painful. What do you think I should do?

[SundayCrepes]

Even though it would be painful, can you pay it off in a year? If so, just do it so you can be done (and I'm not even thinking interest here.) If you can't do it, you can't do it, then just pay it off as fast as you can.

When we did the BT game, they didn't charge anything for the transfers but they did charge about 3% interest on the loan. 

[Mulvah]

Go with whichever makes the most sense, specifically keeping in mind whether you can pay off the amount in the timeframe you agreed to.  Do not assume you could get another balance transfer; assume you must pay it off in "x" months.  

Have you seen this offer?  Do you think you would qualify?  It is 21 months of 0% interest at 3.0% for the transfer fee.  Check out the fine print, but this one might be better than the two you're looking into right now.  

[zebra15]

Well you have a 300-500$ transfer fee YIKES! tacked on to your balance.  IDK what your budget looks like or how long you've had this debt, how many times you've 'paid' to transfer it etc.  If you can do it in 12 months then I would take that one if you are going to have to pay to move it again then take the 18 mos deal.

[cristina47454]

Yeah, I know that it is a hefty fee bcs the amy I am transferring is so big...but I am paying $300/mo+ in interest right\ now on that huge card, so I end up saving quite a bit over the long haul. I'm leaning toward the longer term, just bcs the monthly payments will be more manageable.  I don't want to lock myself in to having to pay $800/mo to have the balance paid off in a year.

[CarrieMF]

have you tried getting them to lower the interest rate on the card you have?

[cristina47454]

The card has been closed for over a year bcs they were going to rate hike the existing balance.  At the time the balance was HUGE and it would have literally been impossible for me to pay the minimums, so I closed it instead.

[mattemma04]

I recently got a no transfer fee offer from chase with up to 15k transfer limit.Try getting that.It was a 12 month offer.