kryzak wrote:
Hey all you lucky people who are starting at your dream school!
I was talking to a friend the other day, and we were talking about the American Express Blue card with its 15 months 0% APR deal... along with some Citibank Cards that give you 12 month balance transfer with 0% APR.
I was wondering if anyone has tried to use the 15 months 0% APR deal to buy every day stuff (anything that lets you use your AmEx), and then when that's up, transfer the balance to a CitiCard and pretty much have zero interest for the duration of your MBA?
You can still get loans, but just keep them in high interest savings or CD, and pay off the credit card bills the second you graduate and get a job.
Is there some flaw in this, or is it too good to be true? (other than paying for tuition, of course)
Don't know either card well, but I will tell you what I used to tell me financial counseling clients:
BEWARE THE FINE PRINT
If you accidentally make a purchase on the card with the 0% balance transfer, that purchase will accrue the going rate, whatever that will be. And of course any payments you make on the card will be applied toward teh 0% balance and not the higher rate balance. Yikes.
If you miss one payment, even by a matter of a day, your rate on the whole shebang will go through the roof. Bad.
If you miss a payment on something else in your credit report, the credit card companies might decide to nail you with universal default rates - bad.
Playing the "shell game" with credit cards can be beneficial, but you have to do it right. Some folks I know manage that well, but many don't.
And don't forget that opening lots of new accts is likely to adversely affect your credit score. Of course, this is a fairly minor consideration, especially if your credit history is already fairly robust.