Do you credit card "shop"? Meaning, do you switch your balances frequently to get the 0% introductory interest rates?

We don't because we don't carry a credit card balance but I have a friend who does this. Probably something I would look into if I did have a balance and just wondered how many others did the same.

We have done this before.... but it seems like quite a hassle for me and then that company normally raises the rates so high becuase our balance is high...

*Horray* for you not carrying a ccard balance*!*

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CaRtEr
April 19, 2008

We stick with the credit card we have, we do not carry a balance and love the rewards we get. If I had a balance, I would think seriously about switching to 0% interest.

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DS-16
DD-12
DD-5
DS-2

We have in the past! Our debt right now is at 0% till Sept! I plan on having it paid off a month or two before, but if we don't it should be low enough that I won't be transferring it again!

I think this method has saved us a lot but you REALLY have to watch the small print! It used to be a 3% transfer fee (min 5 - max 50 to 75). If you have a big balance this saves a TON of money! (especially since I always try for the $50 fee). Lately though (maybe in the past few years) I've noticed they've stopped the max amount! I'm sure this has cought a bunch of people who didn't notice and expected a 50-75 fee and got a huge fee! (When transferring $10,000 you'd have a $300 fee - YUCK)

Of course now I plan on paying our debt off and just not using the credit card again so my plan is to not do this anymore!

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Stay at home mom to my 3 boys... ages 5, 3 & 1!

I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

our financial advisor is going to have us start doing this, but yes is having us watch out for the fees. We are in some serious debt from when we needed to live on the CC for a while. we are now trying to get out of it!

Yes we actually have a card with a balence, no way to pay it and a offer for 0% so a transfer fee yes but compared to paying 12% interest it would save us around $1000 in possible interest charges and buy us time to hopefully be able to pay it off. So yes we will open a new card to do this. Though recently I started seeing another thing card offers that are not 0% but a low fixed rate which we may have to consider if the next 15months don't serve to pay down the debt.

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Kimberly Proud Mommy to Bethany Rose April 2006

Absolutely. Shopping for cc's takes time, but it can save you a lot of money. I found a card with a 0% rate for an unlimited time - so I made a balance transfer to it over a year ago, and we have definitely saved a few hundred dollars because of it. It had no fees for the balance transfer or annual fees.

Read the FINE PRINT - the majority of balance transfer offers I receive charge a 3% transaction fee . . . that's 3% of the total amount you want to transfer. But, the best deals have no transaction fee and no annual fee, and preferably no expiration date on that low rate.

Bankrate.com is a handy site to check what's available.

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Attaining financial freedom is like eating an elephant . . . it takes one bite at a time.