Financial Advice

Are Credit Card Balance Transfers Worth It?

At some point in time, you're likely to receive an offer in the mail. Transfer an existing credit card balance to a new card and receive a promotional interest rate for a set number of months. Are these offers worth it? It depends on the promotional interest rate, the length of the promotional period, what the standard interest rate is once the promotional period expires and what the fee is to transfer your balance from one card to another. During the promotional period you might be paying a lower rate, or 0% depending on the offer. Are the interest savings greater than the balance transfer fee? Whether they're a good deal or not also depends on how long it takes you to pay off the card balance once you transfer it to a new card.

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