Discover Card free balance transfer deal ends soon

January 21, 2012 – 7:11 am

Hows your post-holiday financial hangover? Lets hope you dont have one at all, but, if you do and your credit scores healthy, you might well be thinking of exploring balance transfer credit cards. Many of these offer a break of 6, 12, 15 or even 18 months from high credit card interest rates through 0-percent APR introductory periods on the amount you transfer.

Balance transfer credit cards: two caveats

Before you get too excited about that weight being lifted from your shoulders, you need to heed three warnings:

As with most credit, you cant always get it if you really, really need it. Credit card companies arent crazy (mostly), and they wont lend to you if they think you are already in financial trouble. The stronger your credit report, the better your chances of approval for the card you want.
Dont see balance transfer credit cards as additional lines of credit. Its a classic mistake to transfer a balance and then run up others on the cards you zeroed. Instead, use the vacation from interest payments to more quickly pay down as much debt as you can, including that on the new card.
Most of these cards charge a one-off fee (often 3 percent) on the amount you transfer. Thats usually added to your new balance, and its rarely enough to undermine the economics of the deal, but unless you choose one of the fee-free offers described below, you ought to build it into your calculations. Use one of IndexCreditCard.coms credit card calculators to model your savings and plan how youre going to pay down your balance.

Balance transfer credit cards without the balance transfer fee

Sometimes, credit card companies run special promotions during which they waive balance transfer fees. Theyre not always available, but you should invariably check for them before you apply for one of these credit cards. Right now, there are at least two such offers, and both are time-limited.

Discover has signaled that its offer is likely to expire on Jan. 31, so dont delay if youre considering making an application. Here are some of the headline points for this offer, which is on the Discover More Card:

Of course, before you make any credit card application, you should comparison shop online. If you were to do so at the time of writing, youd find that Chase is offering a similar deal on its Slate from Chase card. There are no balance transfer or annual fees, and the introductory 0-percent APR lasts for 12 months if you have excellent credit, or six months if you have average credit.

Again, this offer is flagged as being available only for a limited time. So if youre looking for a holiday hangover cure, youd better act now.

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