Re:Why Don't People Manage Debt Better?
by rootusrootus on Friday February 19, 2016 @01:46PM
(#11135562)
Clever idea, but these days I think that would be tough to pull off. Most balance transfer offers come with strings attached, typically something like a 3% fee for taking the money. That is almost as much as the raw interest rate on my mortgage, and might actually be more than the effective interest rate (considering tax advantages).
Re:Why Don't People Manage Debt Better?
by HeyLaughingBoy on Friday February 19, 2016 @01:38PM
(#11135482)
I did that about 20 years ago to pay off about 12k of debt I accrued. Basically kept shuffling the debt from one "interest free for 6 months" balance transfer to another until it was all paid off. They are still around today, just not as popular.
One exception: Credit cards with those introductory "6 months interest free" clauses. Sign up for as many as you can get, with as large a limit as you can get. Max them all out on payments into a mortgage offset account. Just before the end of the interest free period, pay them all off again. (I've heard of this being done but I'd bet it's a lot harder to pull off these days.)