Balance Transfer Credit Cards Getting Those Department Store Credit Cards in Check
If you have a department store credit card, or a lot of department store credit cards, you may be noticing you seem to pay a lot more for purchases on those cards than you do on other cards.
Department stores are smart when it comes to credit cards. They will offer you something you can’t resist, like 10 or 20% off of your purchase, if you sign up for their cards. You’ll jump at a great savings and not even read the fine print. That fine print often lets you know that you will be paying a lot more interest on that card than you do your other credit cards.
Soon all the money you had saved by initially signing up has been eaten up, and then some, in interest payments. If you have a lot of department store credit cards, this can be compounded.
For many people it is not until it is too late that they realize what they have gotten into. They now have a stack of department store credit cards with outstanding balances and are trying to ’stop the bleeding’ of interest, but having a tough time paying down the principal because of those high interest payments.
It may be time for a new credit card.
While many people think at this point you should run from credit cards, the truth is that it is more about the kinds of credit cards you are using than anything else.
Those department store credit cards are going to keep making the problem worse. But, if you can consolidate the debt on those department store cards on a new, lower or no interest, card, you will be able to get out of your financial problem much more quickly.
Start shopping around. Look for a balance transfer credit card that will work out the best for you to pay off your debt. There are some 0% interest credit cards out there that will let you move all those department store balances over to them and give you 6,9, 12 months or more without having to pay any interest. That is a lot of time to pay down the principal and finally get yourself out of debt once and for all.
The main thing to remember is that once you get a balance transfer credit card that is not a free pass to use those department store credit cards again. Always remember how you got into this situation in the first place and spend more carefully and on a credit card that is more in line with your best interests.
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