 Therefore, many of us today change our banks without a second thought as we constantly look for the best deals going in order to save on expenses. Banks are aware of this fact which creates a competitive market and that can only be good for us consumers. Balance transfer offers, and occasionally 0 on balance transfers, are some of the main battles going on between them in order to win back and win over, new customers. But is it all as it seems?
Credit card holders nationwide are often bombarded with junk mail from other banks and lending institutions all attempting to lure them towards accepting their credit card balance transfer offers. But it's important to note that all of these money lenders are in competition with each other. This means that whatever is being offered by bank 'A' today will also be offered or bettered by bank 'B' tomorrow.
If you do want to swap over, you need to know whether or not the attractive percentage interest rate being offered is fixed. If not, you may find yourself facing higher interest rates in the future. Many times an interest rate explodes after a while and the disgruntled customer feels somewhat swindled and is yet again looking for balance transfers which promise a better all round deal.
Say another popular credit card company is offering an even sweeter deal. You may have seen a letter urging you to forget the other balance transfer offers and take this astonishing 3.99 percent offer. This same creditor may even send you a letter offering balance transfer offers that have zero percent interest for the life of the balance, but as always, be cautious as not all 0 balance transfer deals are as sweet as they first appear.
These offers seem way too good to be true especially when we consider that most credit cards have an average of eighteen percent interest tacked on to your monthly balance. What do you have to lose? In order to determine exactly what you have to lose, you may want to consider what you have to do to maintain those low interest rates on your balance transfer offers.
In some cases a creditor will require that you make purchases in order to keep that alluring interest rate. It's a bit of a con really because in most cases this forces customers to buy goods they would not have otherwise bought. If you think about it, say a card offering zero balance transfer offers then requires that you make a minimum number of purchases each billing cycle, you may have to ask yourself it it's cost effective to maintain that 0 interest rate. If, on the other hand you make regular purchases on your CC anyway, then the transfer might well be worthwhile.
A common mistake with many folks is that they think they can work their way around this by making some ludicrously tiny purchases with the CC that offers the zero balance on transfer. Make sure you read the small print! You will most likely find that you have to spend a minimum amount each month to bind the deal, and that minimum might me more than you intend to spend.
You also have to make sure that you pay your creditors on time. A payment that is as little as one day late can make those low interest balance transfer offers disappear in a flash. Many credit card companies even jack up your rate if you are late on your utilities as well. One lapse of payment can wreck havoc on your financial situation.
Balance Transfer Offers are not all bad!
There's a lot of careful wording, small print, and mini traps all designed to get folks to take up the latest balance transfer offer, so it really is a case of buyer beware. There's nothing illegal in these marketing tactics, but many would say they are a little underhanded at best and darn right deceiving at worst, and if you're not careful, that zero balance transfer might actually end up costing you more than a reasonable fixed rate deal which has no hidden strings attached. Balance transfer offers are not all bad, but we consumers just need to be on our guard and pick out the best deal for us. |
