What Percentage?

When applying for a credit card, you can do your due diligence all you want, and still end up with a card you don’t want or need. Reading the fine print takes a PhD in credit card, so it is no wonder that most consumers do not truly end up with what they wanted.

Applying for the card is the easy part, figuring out what all the fees and fine print mean is something else. There are balance transfer checks and cash advance checks. Both are drawn on your credit card, yet one could have a substantially higher risk to using it. You could be looking at 0% for so many months, and then it jumps depending on the card and the check used. The cash advance checks usually charge a much higher rate, sometimes as high as 30%. Same checks? Yes. Same Account? Yes. Same charges? No.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to not use these checks at all, but call the company directly and tell them that you want to transfer the balances and have them let you know what your cheapest option is. Then, if you can afford it, and still want to transfer, see if they can handle it for you so as not to cause any errors.  ■