A journalist for nearly 20 years, Brooklyn has published work on a broad range of topics including personal finance and business as well as travel and human interest pieces. As a finance expert, she has provided commentary on credit cards, card rewards and personal finance for outlets including Forbes, Fox Business and many others. Her own wanderlust and travel experiences led to her interest in maximizing credit card rewards and benefits and motivate her to provide easy-to-understand advice and resources designed to help everyday people best match their credit cards to their lifestyle, finances and goals.
Jennifer Doss is a credit card analyst and the executive editor of CardRatings.com. She has worked as both a print and online journalist and has over a decade of experience in the media industry. Her published work has covered a broad range of topics, from finance and technology to travel and dining. Through extensive travel experiences and her personal interest in food, she has come to appreciate the unique rewards and benefits of responsible credit card use, and enjoys helping people understand the ins and outs of the industry. As a finance expert, she strives to provide user-friendly online resources that help everyday people get the most out of their credit cards.
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Just because you’ve hit a few fiscal bumps in the road over the past few years does not mean you are destined to remain trapped in a world of high debt and no better than fair (580-669) credit.
If you are like many Americans, a substantial portion of your debt is tied up in high interest credit cards and you may find yourself stuck in cycle of making minimum monthly payments, while never making a meaningful dent in the balance thanks to high (and rising!) interest rates.
An effective tool to help you break that cycle, pay down your debt and improve your credit score is a credit card with a strong balance transfer offer. These cards allow you to transfer your existing balance from a high-interest card to your new card. The goal, of course, is to move your balance from a card with a high interest rate to one with a significantly lower or even 0% APR for a time.
Lower interest charges mean you can apply more of your monthly payment to knocking out the principal rather than paying charges. Now, 0% balance transfer offers for fair credit scores aren’t common and tend to come from credit unions and smaller banks; however, if the APR is well below what you’re paying on your existing balance, it could still save you a lot of money to move your balance.
When looking for a good balance transfer card, you will also want to consider the annual fee, the balance transfer fee, the introductory APR on purchases and the standard APR.
Take a look at a couple of options for credit cards that offer balance transfers for people with fair credit. You could also explore a personal loan to help you get your credit card debt under control.
A journalist for nearly 20 years, Brooklyn has published work on a broad range of topics including personal finance and business as well as travel and human interest pieces. As a finance expert, she has provided commentary on credit cards, card rewards and personal finance...Read more
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