Friday, August 12, 2005

Balance Transfer Done

I have successfully engineered my first ever 0% APR balance transfer.

When I received my card from HouseHold Bank, I called to activate the card, and while on the phone with them, the very helpful representative assisted me in making the balance transfer....right over the phone.

This was on Wednesday, and this morning I went and checked my Capital One balance, and it is all paid off once again. So now I have 12 months of 0% APR to pay off that balance, though I plan on paying it off much sooner than that.

I have to say, I was very impressed with the rep from HouseHold Bank. She was extremely friendly and helpful. It was nice to be treated as a real person, rather than the second rate credit risk talkdown that I have been subjected to in the past from other credit companies. Here's hoping it continues.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! I've never had to do a balance transfer, hope you get that debt paid down within the next year. Best of luck!

Anonymous said...

Even though you have some time to pay it off before you pay interest, it's probably best to pay it down ASAP, it always takes longer than you think it will.

NYC Money

Anonymous said...

Hey, just dropping by here, coming from Neville's blog.

Just a thought on simplifying your finances and controlling your expenses. I'm a musician and programmer, quite a creative mind, but man do I suck at tracking things and keeping disciplined. So needless to say taking control of my finances has always been a nightmare.

That was until last year, I stumbled on a software, Quicken. The ONE thing that makes it awesome is that I can download my bank statements and it includes it into the software so that after that you can categorise your spending, view graphs & compare for different periods. An awesome tool for someone with a disorganised nature like me! :) Having not to enter almost anything manually (just assigning categories basicly and reviewing and making small corrections every once in a while) makes it a surprisingly easy process to do. I spend about 1 to 2 hours each month and I'm through with having all my accounts up to date, my income and spending categorized and review my activities to see if I spend too much on certain parts or if I need to spend more ;) I know this sounds like an infomercial but usually I don't blow my whistle much ;P

Anyways, just a thought, give it a try I think it's worth every penny!

Bruno D.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the reminder that we don't have to be subject to Credit Card Companies' high interest rates. Whenever I make a transfer to take advantage of a low/0% interest rate, I put the last payment date before the end of the low rate period in my calendar. Then when that time comes, if the balance hasn't been paid off, I have the option of making other arrangements so I'm not stuck with a high interest rate.