Everything happened at once, needed a big new roof ( two properties), a deep well pump, a new sewer line, re asphalt a drive way and parking area, replaced,and several other very expensive things. So I had to use a credit card, as you know a lot of interest charges now.

So I see several ads about no interest in a year or more. in that time I should be able to repay or pull some money out of payed off properties (which I don't want to do rt now),.

Hi, Sid(NY); welcome to the forum!

You may wish to consider changing your user name as we have an active contributor who goes by S i d .

Sid,

Welcome.

Start by negotiating payment terms from the vendor. Then work on the schedule - does it ALL need to be done TODAY?? How about 1 a month or longer.

Zero cards can help you

BUT...

They are not doing this because they like you. They are often designed to NAIL YOU BIG with super high back interest (28%) if you miss the zero period deadline. Their method is to attract folks by dangling the freebie worm in hopes of jerking the line and snaging them when they miss the deadline. (fishing reference)

Tread carefully.

BRAD

Way too many opportunities for it to cost you big interest on those "interest free" hooks.

I have done that once or twice over the last 40 years. Can work out well if you heed the cautions already given. Make sure you pay it off Completely prior to the end date. Have a plan in place to make sure you can pay it off --HELOC ready to go would be one of the plans.

Yep, and am planning on doing a roof later this year or next, a basement wall repair and driveway on these. Yes, you WILL still pay some 'interest' in the form of fees to initiate the balance transfer, but 3 to 5 percent fee is still better than the rates for personal loans ( I've got two of those, one at 7.5%, other just over 8%.)

I keep three checklists on my desk, so as I log in to the many banks where I have credit cards, I can check where I'm at with the cards. One list showing all of the cards in order of utilization ( percentage of available credit being used.) Higher utilizations will really ding your credit score, which can then reduce the future balance transfer offers you get. Second list shows cards in order of expiration of zero , or low interest rate offers. Headings on this list are: Current Rate, Bank , Expires On, and Rate Goes To . Third checklist is to record when the monthly payment has been made. Headings on this checklist are: Day, Bank, Minimum Due, then I do three columns for the next three months, and the last column says Pay This.

The third checklist is of course the most essential, as missing a minimum payment on any bill is disastrous. I put ALL of my bills on this list so I don't miss anything. Another thing I did was change due dates on many of my credit cards, so they all come due between the first and fifteenth of the month. Only bill that comes due after fifteenth is an energy bill for my current renovation. Once all bills have their minimums paid for that month ( I pay them as soon as I can,) then I can see what extra cash is available to send as an extra to the credit cards. That's where the other two lists come in play. Any balance transfer offer that is soon to expire needs to be paid off OR transferred to another card at a different bank. If there is nothing that needs to be paid quite so, then I might look to lower any utilizations that are high. I generally keep utilization on any card below 50%, and better yet, below 30%. Utilization over 50% really starts to affect credit score, which then raises rates banks offer and reduces future balance transfer offers.

I use Credit Karma to monitor my credit, and have gotten many cards based on Credit Karma's recommendations.

If one is not diligent about paying attention to the expiration dates of the balance transfer offers, it will bite in the backside. When a balance transfer is made, you MUST write down the details, especially when the offers expire. Not all credit cards make the expiration date known after the balance transfer has begun. Others show if on the monthly bank statements.

As Plenty mentioned, we have had good discussions of this in previous years.

About 'Pay This' on that third checklist, I'll write 'balance' in there if a balance transfer offer expires soon, or sometimes I'll pay a higher than minimum amount on two or three cards that either expire soon, or have high utilization. Its another way to keep up with offers that will expire soon.

Yes, I did when I was younger.

Even transferred the balance a couple times to a new card.

Credit score was lower due to new accounts - but still high enough.

I hear what you are saying.

You didn't have enough cash in your capital improvement fund to cover everything you needed to, wanted to and then was forced to do. Things like that happen. I suppose you can look for that 0% life line in a day in age where the average interest rate is over 20%. They do indeed exist - some where.

But I really honestly hope you are hearing yourself say you were under funding yourself and plan on continuing while you play the credit card transfer game. Why not use next months bank payment on Red 13 in Atlantic City instead.

Like Vegas or Atlantic City, Credit card companies are able to offer these special deals because they know that there are going to be folks that fall off that wagon. What hasn't been said by you though is how you are changing your saving pattern to prevent this from happening so that next month, you will be actually funding that emergency maintenance or life's emergency fund.

You are asking how to effectively skate on thin financial ice. Many have successfully and they will tell you about it. Many, many, many more will just keep quiet. Perhaps you should look at hard money or transactional funding to built a very short bridge to get you over this hump in the road.

I fund 6-8% of what I bring in for maintenance, repair and upgrade tasks to the portfolio

I pay mine off every month now but I admit to carrying the debt in the past.

We used the cards for fast rehab money.

The tenants always made the payments.

So, I guess I’m waaaay above average, with my $50k of credit card debt, eh? Knew I was special, Ed. I’ve been doing this for over ten years. Yeah, I said goodbye to the 850 credit score I’d had for years. In fact, brought my credit score to a low of 580 just after purchasing the last house… with cash advances on credit cards.

I’m not a gambler, in the least. I know I keep good records and am meticulous. My three lists serve as a check, lest life gets busy, or maybe I get a sinus infection and am not thinking my best, or, whatever can throw me for a loop. I would say that anyone who has ever had trouble getting bills paid on time probably shouldn’t try this.