Got credit card debt? Use this strategy to cut your interest rate to 0% right away. Youll get out of debt faster. This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save...
How much are you paying on your credit cards?
It hurts to think about, doesnt it? Credit card companies are steadily getting rich off of you, quietly bleeding money from you with their high interest rates.
Dont put up with it. Not for one more moment. Put a stop to it.
Its easier than you think to shift that debt over to a balance-transfer card like Capital Ones Quicksilver card. All by itself, that one simple move will save you money and help you get rid of your credit card debt faster.
How This Strategy Could Save You Over $500
Its just simple math. The fundamental fact here is the Quicksilver card charges zero interest on balance transfers for 15 months.
Lets say youve racked up a $1,500 balance on a credit card with a 20% APR, which is about the median interest rate for credit cards.
So, you transfer that balance over to your new Quicksilver card. If you pay $100 a month for 15 months, youve paid off that $1,500 balance without paying any interest at all. Its like magic!
On the other hand, lets say you didnt do that. Instead, you didnt do anything at all, and you just left that $1,500 balance on your same old credit card, with that same old 20% APR. And you continued to pay the exact same amount $100 a month.
At that rate, it would take you three extra months to pay off your balance. So youd make an extra $300 worth of payments. Youd also pay $240 in interest during that time.
So youd be out $540 overall by not taking action. And thats just on a relatively low $1,500 balance.
(In this case, youd pay a $45 balance transfer fee, because it charges you 3% of the balance. Dont be put off by this fee, because its a pittance compared to the amount you save.)
You can transfer balances from more than one credit card, too.
The Perks Beyond the Savings
The Quicksilver card has other benefits, too:
Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases. Thats right every purchase. Youre not limited to certain shopping categories for certain periods of time or anything like that. (Though youll want to be careful of spending too much if you have lots of debt.) Get a $150 signup bonus if you spend $500 on the card within the first three months. Thats pretty easy to do. (Hello, groceries.) Pay no annual or foreign transaction fees or any other hidden fees.Aside from balance transfers, the Quicksilver cards APR for new balances ranges from 15.49% to 25.49%, depending on how your credit is.
Heres the bottom line: Dont feel bad about having an unpaid balance on your credit card. It happens. The average American credit card balance these days is more than $6,000, according to Experian.
Whats important now is that you do something about it. Thats why transferring your balance to the Quicksilver card might be worth a try.
Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He knows a lot about credit card debt, based on unfortunate personal experience.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.