Payoff CC with stock sell-off or balance transfer?

[ginjaninjaa]

Hey there! I have ~15k on a 0% credit card that will no longer be 0% starting this August. I have a lot invested into Ball Corporation stock and can sell it to pay off my cc debt. Or should I balance transfer to another card with 0% apr for 21 months and pay a 5% fee to do so? And then continue to make payments. $750/21mo is an extra $62.5/mo essentially for the balance transfer. I definitely could pay it off by the end of that.

Thanks for any help/thoughts on what I should do.

[Pizzabrewer]

I would definitely keep the money invested. That’s an annual rate of 2.86% which is pretty cheap money. Plus the monthly payments are only 1% of the balance which allows you to invest more heavily during the life of the loan.

And of course in 21 months you have the option of yet another balance transfer to a different 0% card.

[kpd905]

Not sure which card you have now, but you can do a balance transfer to Citi Double Cash and get 0% for 18 months for a 3% BT fee instead of 5%.  You also get 2% back on all purchases with the card, and no annual fee.

[ginjaninjaa]

Not sure which card you have now, but you can do a balance transfer to Citi Double Cash and get 0% for 18 months for a 3% BT fee instead of 5%.  You also get 2% back on all purchases with the card, and no annual fee.

Yeah I just saw that one! Will probably be doing this, as long as there isn't any other "gotchyas" with balance transfer.

[Catbert]

Just be aware that generally (always??) the bank you're transferring balance to must be different than the one it's coming from.  By that I mean Chase will happily take a transfer from Citi/BoA/WF (and vice versa) but not from one of its own cards.  This may narrow your options.

[charis]

Not sure which card you have now, but you can do a balance transfer to Citi Double Cash and get 0% for 18 months for a 3% BT fee instead of 5%.  You also get 2% back on all purchases with the card, and no annual fee.

Just an FYI, I used this card for a balance transfer.  My understanding of the fine print is that if you use the card to make purchases after making the balance transfer, you start accruing interest on your new purchases until you pay off the entire balance transfer.  I believe that's because they will apply all payments to the balance transfer first. Meaning you can't just pay off new purchases and let the balance transfer ride without paying any interest from the time of the purchase. You can avoid this though IF the card also has a 0% intro apr on new purchases.

Maybe this is common knowledge, but I had never done a balance transfer before, so it was good to know.

[ginjaninjaa]

Not sure which card you have now, but you can do a balance transfer to Citi Double Cash and get 0% for 18 months for a 3% BT fee instead of 5%.  You also get 2% back on all purchases with the card, and no annual fee.

Just an FYI, I used this card for a balance transfer.  My understanding of the fine print is that if you use the card to make purchases after making the balance transfer, you start accruing interest on your new purchases until you pay off the entire balance transfer.  I believe that's because they will apply all payments to the balance transfer first. Meaning you can't just pay off new purchases and let the balance transfer ride without paying any interest from the time of the purchase. You can avoid this though IF the card also has a 0% intro apr on new purchases.

Maybe this is common knowledge, but I had never done a balance transfer before, so it was good to know.

Wow this is great information! Thanks

[Proud Foot]

Not sure which card you have now, but you can do a balance transfer to Citi Double Cash and get 0% for 18 months for a 3% BT fee instead of 5%.  You also get 2% back on all purchases with the card, and no annual fee.

Just an FYI, I used this card for a balance transfer.  My understanding of the fine print is that if you use the card to make purchases after making the balance transfer, you start accruing interest on your new purchases until you pay off the entire balance transfer.  I believe that's because they will apply all payments to the balance transfer first. Meaning you can't just pay off new purchases and let the balance transfer ride without paying any interest from the time of the purchase. You can avoid this though IF the card also has a 0% intro apr on new purchases.

Maybe this is common knowledge, but I had never done a balance transfer before, so it was good to know.

I think it all depends on the card for how payments are applied. Most of my cards apply the minimum amount to the lowest interest rate and anything above that to the highest rate. I don't know if that is a regulation thing or if its something the cards each chose.

[Rosy]

There are cards that give 0% on both purchases and the balance transfer.
Fifth Third and Wells Fargo for instance both 15 months and I believe BOA has a card for 18 months.
You can find one with a 3% fee for balance transfer or even one with zero balance transfer fees.

It always pays to pay attention to the small print. I once had a card that required me to make a minimum payment regardless of whether I used the card that month or not, which I didn't realize and got dinged on my credit report before I came back from overseas. Lesson learned!
It was touted as a two-year interest free loan, ha.
I was used to merchants giving six months to a year for payments with no min pmt required, so I didn't look close enough.

No, I wouldn't sell off the stock, but then I wouldn't hold individual stock for any length of time, but rather go with Vanguard.