Credit Card Question

Nobody can tell you what to do because we are not you. Only you can make that sort of decision.

Some credit-card companies, these days, allow interest-free balance transfers from other credit-cards, some of them interest free even for as long as 3 years. I think they allow transfers from multiple other cards, too, according to what I've seen advertised over here.

It might save a lot in interest-payments. Credit-cards are one of the more expensive ways of borrowing - the interest-rates are typically much higher than those of agreed bank overdrafts.

If your credit-rating is good enough to qualify to get one of those "interest-free balance-transfer cards", it could be well worth looking into?

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First of all, and all this info is for the US but likely applies most places, I don't think I have EVER seen a credit card company offering interest free balance transfers. Oh SURE ALL offer "interest free balance transfers", but that is, at least OFTEN, a MARKETING PLOY! READ THE FINE PRINT! They generally say they will charge you a FRONT LOADED interest fee. That generally means your cost is something like 4%(This can vary.), ****UP FRONT****. On top of that, they may charge you another fee.

ALSO, if you ever DID want to go the "interest free" route, perhaps ALL credit card companies offer it. So ask your CURRENT companies first. They generally have a list of offers for various cards and ratings. MOST companies, and perhaps all, subscribe to a special credit bureau service that offers them certain specific info on people in a certain demographic. If they decide to run a campaign, THOSE people, that may include current customers, get targeted offers, like the "interest free balance transfers". The fact is that most of these people could have gotten the offers earlier, but they would have to ask. So CALL, and ask.

So what should you do? FIRST, CHECK OUT the "interest free" option. If you have a 4% card, assuming the "interest free" one charges the same amount, and generally pay AT LEAST about 0.7% of the balance each month, or the minimum if it is larger, it is cheaper to NOT use the "interest free" cards.

Follow that same method on the other cards. Pay at least about twice the yearly interest to make sure things are always going DOWN. Of course, you should ALWAYS pay more than the minimum. Credit card companies really don't want you to use all the credit. With various scoring policies, if you use over a certain amount of your credit on a given card, or over a certain number of cards, or over a certain amount(Apparently the amount is 30% of your income), your score will be LOWERED! These may not all affect FICO, etc... but they certainly affect vantage. https://www.creditkarma.com/article/vantageScore

BTW Credit karma's statements make it look like vantage is, AGAIN, a horrible monstrosity that hurts many with a good history to maybe help some with no history, or a bad one. Probably due to the 2009 credit law.

Steve

Coming at this from the standpoint of an ex- mortgage broker.

In the US, we have this sponsored by the government and look for something similar in you country:
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action - All of the others are not free and/or give partial
reports... And, pulling your credit reports too often can hurt the credit risk score used to qualify you
for about the only loan anyone should take - a home mortgage loan.

Anytime you open a new card, you do want to look at the fees and costs of the card. The fine print.
It might not be your best move.

You should pay these off as Kay suggested- consolidation depending upon the actual costs of doing so.

To get in the best financial shape possible, you'll of course have to talk to a reputable Canadian mortgage broker, banker, or financial advisor/planner. But, in the US, you want end up with one to three trade lines (trade line being a credit card, phone, car loan) besides your housing expense. SO, eventually you'll want to close down a credit card or two so you don't have too much available credit because that has a negative impact on your credit score.

You'll want to keep open the oldest credit card or two, and keep your payment history up to date. The oldest line of credit helps because it shows your history of handling credit. This can be offset if the fees are just too high.