How do I get ride of my Credit card bills & APR?

Question

I have about 4 Credit cards that I don't use anymore since about 2 years. But I still got the bills to pay and they have a huge APR. If I pay $80 a month then they take out only $8 for the bill and the rest of the $80 dollars goes towards the APR. I keep records of it and figured it out, I was shocked. So now I am looking to put all 4 Credit cards together in one, have only one APR and one monthly payment. I was wondering if anybody here knows whats the best Company that does that? anybody had experience with that? PLEASE HELP!!!

Answer 1

First of all, that doesn't neccessarily save you money. Four credit cards at $500 each with a 22% APR is the exact same thing as one credit card at 2000 with a 22% apr.

If your credit score is decent and you've made good payments for awhile, call the card that has the lowest APR and request a credit increase, and if possible, a 0% transfer rate "for one year" or whatever. Then transfer your balances.

But since you seem to be able to resist spending DO NOT close more than one or two of the other cards-- and preferably make those ones the newest cards, not the oldest. YOu want to keep you longest-standing accounts open for credit history.

Also, you can call your credit cards and request a lower APR or some fees to be cut. I just happened to call Dell about 20 minutes ago with a question about my APR (it seemed kinda high and i was wondering if they accidently were charging me a default rate) and the lady just decided to credit me two months worth of interest-- $64! Just to be nice and becuase I was a "good customer." So dont be afraid to call them up and ask for lower interest....

Also, adding just $20 to your paymetn can REALLY help. Your interest is based on balance-- so as that comes down, more and more of that $80 goes towards paying off the cards.

Answer 2

I'm not sure about the best company, but I can tell you to stay away from Capital One. They are terrible and not very ethical.

You can call the credit card company and request for your APR to be lowered, as Amanda said. I used to work in customer care for Capital One and we could do all kinds of stuff for customers, even though the big wigs in the company strongly advised against it. Anyway, call them and ask for them to lower your APR, or threaten to close your account. If you are a good customer, then they will transfer you to what's called the "Retention" department, which is basically a dept set up to kiss your butt so that you will stay as a customer. They have the ability to lower APR, waive fees, increase your limit... all kinds of stuff. And if you think that the person you are talking to can do it, but doesn't want to, hang up and call back to get someone else, or politely ask for a supervisor. You're the one paying them, so in the end, you're the one with the power.

Answer 3

A few months back I finally looked at the Capital One application form they kept sending me. At the time I was playing 19.75% interest on my credit card, I ended up getting a Capital One credit card at 8.75% interest and transferred my remaining balance from that high interest credit card to it. I still have like $300 on the original.

I found the best way is to focus on one card at a time. Pay off one at a time, pay the minimum on the others and throw as much down on one card every month till you have it paid off. I did that a few years ago, I paid the card off and I never used it again.

I didn't know that about keeping old credit cards for credit rating.

You could also consolidate your credit cards and pay on payment to the bank. My sister had to do that.

What I did last January was make myself a budget of how much I had to pay. I put all my bills in it and it was crappy in the beginning but eventually I was able to put more money on items. See I had bought a new posh mattress and a bed on two high interest credit cards (Pier One and another) but had a year to pay them off interest free. So this year I focused all my payments on the interest free ones and when I have those paid off (they will be paid off before my interest kicks in) I am cancelling one of them (it came threw the mattress store 29.5 % interest - are they out of their mind!!!!).

Make a budget and apply for a lower interest credit card or consolidate. Make a plan for a year to how you are going to pay one off, focus on your plan.
If your credit rating is good places like Capital One will accept you, they only offer their low interest credit cards to people with good credit rating.

Best of luck, you can do it. Just make a budget and stick to it.

Answer 4

You won't have to pay interest if you pay the full amount of $300.

Answer 5

pay up

Answer 6

get a loan fron your bank, it has lower interest.
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