FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Miles for Purchase of Engagement Ring? Help!
Old Dec 2, 2004 | 6:28 pm
  #8  
themicah
All eyes on you!
20 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: NYC
Posts: 8,686
Get yourself a Chase Cashbuilder card. It has 0% for 12 months on balance transfers and no transfer fee. And they seem fairly generous with the credit line as long as you have good credit.

Then buy the ring with the card of your choice (as long as it's not also from Chase) and xfer the balance.

A few pointers:
  • If you're transferring the balance to a card like this one that has 0% on xfers but a higher rate for purchases, do _not_ use the card to make any purchases until you've paid off the whole balance. If you make a purchase, you won't be able to pay the purchase off until you've paid off the whole balance transfer, and they'll start charging you interest on the purchase right away.
  • Also (this should be obvious, but just in case), be very careful not to miss any payments, or your 0% rate will go bye-bye and be replaced overnight with a rate of something like 20%. I recommend setting up an automatic billpay system to cover the minimum payment at least a week in advance every month so you don't have to worry about forgetting.
  • Note that the credit scoring systems look at what percentage of your credit line you're using on each card. So if you plan to apply for other credit cards (or a mortgage or other loan), you may not want to max out the credit line on any of your cards. But if you won't be needing your credit rating for a while, you can write yourself a balance transfer check to max out the 0% card and keep the cash in an ING Direct account to make a few extra dollars along the way. I did this a year ago and my credit rating was low while I had the 0% card maxed out, but once I paid the whole thing off, my credit rating immediately bounced back.

Mazel tov.
themicah is offline