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TRANSFER BALANCE TO A 0% CREDIT CARD AND SAVE BIG

Do you ever ask yourself: How much money you have paid to your credit card company over the years in interests? Or may be rephrase the question and ask: How much money can I save if I transfer the balance to a 0% card? Let us look at one example: If one carries around $5,000 balance on his cards, with the average APR of 15%. That will amount to about $750 in interest a year! Most of us would prefer to use that money to pay toward the balance, rather than put it in the pocket of banks and credit card companies.

As much as credit cards provide convenience, they can lead to disastrous financial results. The best way, of course, is to pay off your credit cards in full every month. This may be a little simplistic, but it's really the only way to be debt-free. You can avoid interest charges and finance charges by doing this, but let us face the fact that it is much easier to say than to do.

Fortunately credit card industry becomes so competitive now, that the banks and issuers will offer different deals to get you as a customer. If you, like most of the Americans, carry balance on your cards, then you should consider one of the cards from our  "Balance Transfer Credit Cards" category, and transfer balance from your old cards to one of these.

However before you go ahead and pick a card, read the following article. It will make the process of transferring balances smooth and easy. Always remember to read the fine print and ask questions. Otherwise, you may end up paying fees and a much higher interest rate than you expected.

First, ask these questions:

1. How long does the introductory rate last?

This is really important; you want to have a card with O% APR for as long as possible to avoid interest.

2. Does the card have an annual fee?

You don't want a card that charges you a fee just to use it. Most of our "Balance Transfer Cards" do not have any annual fees.

3. What is the card's annual percentage rate after that teaser rate expires?

Be really careful here, some cards will offer you O% Intro APR for 12 month and then jack up the APR to as much as 20%, so compare different offers. And use our tables to find out more about the particular card.

4. Is there a balance-transfer fee?

Some issuers charge transaction fees as high as 4 percent. So the higher the balance is, the higher the transaction fee will be. A four percent fee on a $5,000 balance would be $200.

Study the credit card offer a few times. A lot of the information is hard to decipher. For example, some offers waive fees for "initial balance transfers" only. These are the transfers that are authorized when the customer accepts the card and completes the balance transfer form. Once you are comfortable with the terms of the offer, be sure to fill out the balance transfer form carefully. Incomplete information may halt or delay a transfer.

It's also a good idea to make the minimum payment on the old card while waiting for the balance transfer to take effect -- which may take anywhere from two to four weeks. The new card company may send a notice to inform you that the balance transfer is complete. Be sure to call the old card company and verify this. Write down the name of the person you talked to, the date, the time and what was said. To avoid any mix-ups, experts urge people to wait until the old credit card company sends them a billing statement with a zero balance. If the company doesn't send one, request it.

Then cancel the old card - you don't need it.

*(Source used in this article: bankrate.com)

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