Paying off CC with personal line of credit

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by hboogz

On a related note -- anyone have experience borrowing from a credit union? Any pitfalls, caveats, hidden catches, etc ?

I have always found them to be superior to banks. Usually get lower % on loans, higher % on savings, better "free" services, and the staff is friendly and more service oriented. I like smaller, community/city centered ones.

 

[kwilkinson]

Originally Posted by Piobaire

I have always found them to be superior to banks. Usually get lower % on loans, higher % on savings, better "free" services, and the staff is friendly and more service oriented. I like smaller, community/city centered ones.

+1. The only personal loan I've ever taken out was with a credit union. It was a good experience, and I much preferred being with them to the big bank I'm with now.

 

[hboogz]

Looking into a few options on something and MCU in NY looks both competitive and reliable. Thanks.

 

[imatlas]

It's definitely taking the 9% loan to cover the 19% credit card. I'm not sure how common those 0% offers are these days, I know that CC companies have backed way off on pushing their cards to poor credit risks, but if you come across one it could be worth your while. When I was young and in debt I bounced from 0% card to 0% card for a couple of years while I paid the balance off. If you go this route it's critical to keep an eye on your situation and not leave a balance on the card when it resets, because they typically reset to above average interest rates. Keep in mind, though, that opening lots of lines of credit hurts your credit score. Long term that's less of a concern, as long as you dig your way out of your current hole and stay out. With that in mind, as stated above you should keep the current card once you've paid it off (unless it has an annual fee that doesn't pay for itself in bennies).

19% doesn't necessarily imply that Conne has been a bad boy, but it shouldn't be hard to do better than that - the national average APR is around 14.5% at the moment.