Can anyone tell me if there is a reason not to use credit cards instead of private loans? I get offers all the time for either 0% for 1 year or 3.9% for life. These rates are good for balance transfers. I assume you could initiate the loan with a private lender and then transfer the balance to the cc at a much lower rate. You probably would need to use multiple credit cards in order to achieve a large enough credit line, but I don't see why it couldn't be done. Aside from the risk of the rate going up drastically if you screw up, are there any other drawbacks?
Quote from: Momo09 on July 05, 2006, 08:29:17 PMI thought about doing the same, except in my case instead of writing the school a check for tuition, I would charge it on my card and just wait a year to pay. But the danger (from what I'm aware of) is any negative marks on the credit report will cause the rate and fees to skyrocket. As tempting as it may, I know playing with credit card is almost like playing with fire -- it takes skills and disipline that they are banking few people possess.Good luck.Momo09 if you have the cash to write a check for tuition you could probably play the game. Just keep your money in the bank and pay the cc off immediately if the rate raises. But I guess there are more variables and it is not this simple. Having cash does seem to change the rules a little...
I thought about doing the same, except in my case instead of writing the school a check for tuition, I would charge it on my card and just wait a year to pay. But the danger (from what I'm aware of) is any negative marks on the credit report will cause the rate and fees to skyrocket. As tempting as it may, I know playing with credit card is almost like playing with fire -- it takes skills and disipline that they are banking few people possess.Good luck.
Many cc offer 3.9% on balance transfer for the life of the balance. They cannot simply raise the rate. It's 3.9% unless you default.
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