, by FashionMistaHappy New Year, everyone!
This is just a friendly reminder/encouragement to be aware of those 0% APR offers you hopefully get in the mail and transfer credit card balances to them - and keep track of the expiration date of the 0% APR so that you can think about moving again when you start to pay finance charges.
I'm spending this Saturday night tackling my bill stack, and I'm starting with the personal bills, then moving to the Katie James sales/expense stack. What I've been a pro at is keeping my Excel spreadsheet for personal expenses each month, of which some are expensed, so that by Tax Time, I can easily submit it all at once to my accountant. Same with receipts. All are saved in a purple plastic file thing that I keep in my kitchen cupboard (apartments are small, and the kitchen is filled with cabinet space).
I still address my bills via paper bills. I pay them quickly over the phone or online, but I need the visual stimulation/intrusion of white bills glaring at me until paid to remind me to devote a Saturday to it. That said, I know all of my balances for scary credit cards, and keep track via electronic calendar reminders of when the 0% APR ran out. So, my Amex Blue was giving me a 0% APR for all of last year, thank goodness, but it ended this past September. I got charged $40/month for the finance charge, which meant that if I paid the minimum payment of $70, I was really paying $30. Yuck!!!
I get 0% APR offers all of the time, but toss them until I'm close to the end of my 0% APRness. Then I start to hold onto them and wait for the perfect one. This December, I got one from Chase (for the 5th time), and as Chase is my bank for personal and for business, I grabbed it. I waited until I made the most recent payment due for my Amex, then called Chase to make the transfer to their card, which is 0% APR for one year. I figured out the payments I would need to make to kill the debt for one year, and boy did that light a new fire under me! It's manageable, but I feel much better now that I'm not paying finance charges. Maybe Keeping Nickels can weigh in, but I believe that it's good for your credit NOT to close the credit card after you transfer from it. I think it's good to leave them open, but don't quote me.
Because I'm so visual, I had to make a chart to reminde me every day about those quiet little debts that can become so ferocious. Check out my Debt-O-Meter that super-novas when a debt is closed (SOO exciting).
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