04
Jan
by
Tanesha
Let me preface this by saying that I hate credit card debt. Yes, I know hate is a strong word… but there is no other way to accurately describe my feelings. Just saying the words… credit card… gives me chills. Ugh!
However, on occasion… there may be a valid reason to use a credit card. So if for some unfortunate reason you must incur credit card debt… Bank of America is the only way to go.
Though I am not a big fan of credit cards, I am a big fan of the Bank of America Cash Rewards Platinum Plus MasterCard and the Bank of America Accelerated Reward American Express Card.
And what is so great about these cards? There are a few things:
1 – One rewards the cardholder with cash back (1% for every dollar). The other rewards the cardholder with points… accelerated points (1.25 for every dollar).
2 – No annual fees
3 – APR as low as 9.99%
4 – Has the mieux du meilleur of introductory offers (I am taking a French class J… BTW English translation… best of the best)
Let’s talk about this introductory offer.
0% of balance transfers or direct deposit for 15 months! Of course there is a 3% transaction fee. But even that is pretty low… the going transaction rate on balance transfer is about 5%.
Hold on… you guys don’t seem as excited about this as I am. Did you not see… DIRECT DEPOSIT? They will deposit the funds directly into your checking account… no questions asked. And a direct deposit of cold hard cash falls under the same terms and conditions as a balance transfer… not a cash advance, which typically have rates of 23% or more.
Bank of America offers the only credit cards (that I am aware of) that will deposit money directly into your checking account.
If done properly, taking advantage of this offer can actually save you money. Here is how:
Let’s say you’ve got $5,000 and 12 months left to pay on a car loan. At an interest rate of 10%… that’ll cost you about $275 in interest. But if Bank of America deposits $5,000 into your checking account… you can use it to pay down your car loan. This will only cost $150 (3% transaction fee times $5,000). You’ll save $125, plus you’ll have 15 months instead of 12 months to pay off the debt.
Okay, that may sound like a lot of effort to save $125. But think of it this way… it takes 2 minutes to apply for and get approved for the card. It takes 1 minute to authorize Bank of America to deposit the money into your checking account. It takes another 30 seconds… minute at the most… to write the check to the lien holder of your car. You would make (or save… however you want to look at it) $125 for 4 minutes of work. Sounds like the effort is worth to me.
I am not a proponent of creating new debt, but as a debt consolidation tool… these cards rule!
Want to apply for the Bank of America® Cash Rewards Platinum Plus® MasterCard® Credit Card… click here.
Want to apply for the Bank of America® Accelerated RewardsTM American Express® Card… click here.
