Credit Cards with No Transfer Balance Fees

At all times, one’s credit and financial health are inexorably linked…but during a recession such as we are currently experiencing, the need to make not only healthy financial choices, but healthy credit choices, has become paramount. While the Bill signed on May 22 by U.S. President Obama does create security and a certain dampening of anxiety concerning interest rate raises on late payments and notification and disclosure of fee schedules, the flip side to this that banks will now be forced, in part, to assume greater risk on each application; therefore the standards for actually obtaining one of these great low interest rate, fee reporting credit cards will continue to climb higher in direct preportion to the rights given to the consumer.

There are a number of ways to strike a happy medium, as you can save enough on fee’s using your own research that some of the less exclusive cards can actually offer a comparable experience. For example, if you are someone with a good credit history, you may choose to look into the option of a card with no annual fee, as in some cases, annual fee’s can actually top $100. By cutting down on just one aspect of your bill, you have already increased the cards value regardless of the lowered standard for application and/or the accompanying higher intial rate.

Another unforseen bonus of the current recession climate is the advent of negotiation with your credit card company. Many credit card holder’s would be extremely surprised to find that with one call to the issuer of their card, they can simply ask to see savings up to 0% interest. Studies have shown that credit card purchases have declined 30% in the U.S. Alone, card companies, along with mortgage brokers, have been villified. There has truly never been a situation since the advent of credit where the industry was more of a consumer’s market; plainly said, they need your business.

The third, and in the interest of journalistic brevity, final optioned offered, is the “no fee balance transfer”. Smaller credit unions and chain cards (ie Costco etc..) often will not charge a fee to transfer your balance. While almost every major credit card company charges what seems to be a paltry 3% charge on a balance transfer, the lack of said charge can actually save you several hundred dollars a year in interest savings alone, not to mention, many proprietary cards such as grocery stores or gasoline co-ops offer additional incentives to the consumer.

While their is no clear solution to the current economic situation, taking this chance to review how we view our credit, and the attention we spend on the small print may as yet be a blessing in disguise.