I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

So I applied for another credit card

But this time it is a good thing. No, really!

I don’t know why I’ve waited so long to take advantage of a “0% interest on balance transfers” offer. I keep thinking to myself — I need to do this. I have excellent credit, I would most likely be approved (my spouse and I jointly), and I am paying 10.9% interest right now so why am I NOT doing this? I would tell myself to wait a bit because we just bought a house and we have some inquires on our credit reports from when we were shopping for lenders so wait til those fall off and our credit scores recover from those but… in reality that was an excuse to not make any changes. Our credit scores will be okay. They’re great now, one more inquiry is not going to drastically alter them.

I guess it is the fear of new. The fear of the unknown. Truth be told, Capital One is… comfortable, because I know it. I know the rules about how often I can make online payments. I know when I need to pay to have it post before the due date. It is simple, and comfortable, and familiar.

But it is costing me money.

I guess the 37 day billing cycle and the $70+ I paid in interest during it was the final jolt to kick me awake and make me actually ACT on something instead of just pondering it.

I like to ponder. If you can’t tell that already ;).

So, I applied (with my spouse) for another credit card. It gives you a $50 gift card reward the first time you use it, and your first balance transfer within 12 months of being approved for the card has 0% interest for 12 months from the date of the transfer and NO balance transfer fee. That was the kicker for me. I knew I had to do it.

So I talked it over with my spouse and then we applied online this afternoon.

When we’re approved, I’ll buy something I would buy anyway (like groceries probably), pay it online as soon as it posts to the card, and then as soon as my next billing cycle, as long as I am happy with everything, do the balance transfer. And get a $50 gift card for my trouble.

I don’t think we’ll be able to completely pay it off in 12 months…. by my estimate it would take 21 months at our current rate of payment and our balance from right now with no interest. We’re discussing what to do when the rate goes back up. Should we transfer back to Capital One for the lower interest, or leave at the slightly higher 12.9% interest rate on the new card to avoid the transfer fee… well, I’ll be playing with the calculators at Bankrate for a while when it gets closer to that time I bet to figure out what makes sense.

And anyhow, we haven’t even been approved yet. That decision is a ways off. A lot can happen between now and then.
Bye bye Capital One… it’s been fun. For you.

~J

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