Credit Card Transfers Can Be a Dangerous Game Peekskill NY

By Eva Norlyk Herriott

Back in the heyday of easy credit, some savvy consumers found a way to make money on credit cards—instead of the other way around. They played a nice little game of musical chairs: Take out a new credit card with a 0% APR , invest the money in a high-interest savings account at a 3-5% return. Then, when the 0% APR expires, transfer the balance to a new credit card with a 0% APR and keep the money earning a nice return in the savings account. Rinse and repeat.

This little game of credit card arbitrage had many followers; whole website communities sprang up with tips for finding the best credit card deals, pitfalls to watch for, guidelines on how to minimize hits to one’s credit rating when applying for new credit cards, and so on. Some people made a nice little side income by putting in a couple of hours a month playing this game. Serious players accumulated upwards of $200,000 or more in credit card debt in order to invest it in a money market account.

In the current credit environment, playing musical chairs with credit card balance transfers, however, is no longer such a great idea. People who try to game the system may find that the days of great balance transfer deals are over and the terms of credit card transfers are too onerous to provide any advantage. ...

Click here to read the full credit card article from CreditCard Guide.