You can save money if you move your balance from a credit card that charges a high interest rate to one that charges a lower rate. There are several providers of credit cards that offer a 0% introductory APR for new customers. While you will only get the zero-interest rate for a short period, you can use that timeframe to pay off your balance. Here are the steps to take to transfer your money.
Get A Credit Card With Low Or Zero-Interest
As professionals at SoFi state, “ while it’s convenient to send money by credit card, it may be costly and it could impact your credit.” That’s why it is essential to look for a credit card that offers low or no-interest as well as no annual fee. Be aware that it will take a few weeks to accomplish a balance transfer. First, you will need the new credit card approval. Then you will need to wait for the balance transfer to occur.
Balance Transfer
Once you have your new credit card, you can ask to shift your outstanding balance to it.
To send money by credit card is fairly simple. You contact the balance-holder and ask if they can move the debt to your new account. There are several ways to do this:
Move funds online: Log in to the online portal for the account that has a balance. You will need to have your account information handy, as well as the level of debt you would like to transfer. Some credit cards allow the applicant to ask to transfer an existing balance when they apply for a new card.
Phone: If you’d rather talk to someone, you can call your current creditor and ask for a balance transfer.
Convenience check: Some credit card companies will mail zero or low-interest checks to promote their products. You can use these to pay off your current debt.
Wait for Your Transfer
It can take a couple of weeks for your transfer to be approved and completed. It may take longer if there is a snag. Make sure to keep up the payments on your old card until you have confirmation of the pay-off. You may not get any notification that the transfer has gone through, so you need to check your old credit card portal regularly until you have confirmed this.
The money will be transferred from the holder of your new credit card to the company you are indebted to. You will see a payment posted to your old card and an outstanding balance on your new one. Sometimes you will also be charged a balance transfer fee.
Pay off Your Balance
Use the period of zero or low interest on the new credit card to pay off as much of your debt as you can. Remember, once the promotional period on the new credit card is over, you will once again have to pay interest. However, you will only be charged interest on your remaining balance. Getting your balance down to zero is the wisest move.