Credit card debt? BankerGirl to the rescue
Posted
Dec 17 2007, 06:26 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
When BankerGirl decided to consolidate $17,000 on a new credit card at 5.99% APR, readers wondered if she had picked the right deal. "Fear not, dear readers, for I am a master at interpreting The Fine Print!" she replied. What makes her such a know-it-all? After all, fine print is difficult to understand (let alone see). Besides, she has $17,000 in credit card debt. "How dare someone with the financial recklessness I have demonstrated in the past claim to have conquered The Fine Print?" she said. "Because I, BankerGirl, have been a creator of The Fine Print." In a previous job, she helped develop products to make more money for banks. This post is invaluable reading for anyone who is considering a balance transfer or is simply confused about how credit cards work.
It's all in the fine print: The 5.99% rate is fixed forever on her balance transfers, and there is no transfer fee. The rate on new charges is 11.9%, and that rate can go up at any time. Since her payments will go toward the lower-interest debt first, new charges will accumulate interest at the 11.9% rate until her balance transfers are paid off. This looks like a recipe for more debt, but this is BankerGirl, and she's done the superhuman thing. "That is why I cut up that pretty new card immediately upon receipt. ...The point of this consolidation loan is to pay off my credit card balances in full, not find exciting new ways to stay in debt forever."
