I recently financed a car with the loan being sourced from Grow Financial Credit Union. I was not previously familiar with them, but the process was painless and the rate was lower than I expected. A few weeks later, a rep from GFCU contacted me and informed me about their credit card consolidation offer. The spiel sounded excellent so I continued looking into it and had them send me over the terms. The specifics:
- 3.9% for first 6 months, 8.74% after that (variable, prime + 4.7%)
- $10k limit, but have to transfer a minimum of $9k
- No fee at all to transfer (which struck me as odd)
- Minimum payment is 2.5% of the balance
- Credit cards are not closed so it won't wreck our age of accounts
I've scoured the fine print on this, but it still feels like a 'too good to be true' offer. The only reviews I can find online for Grow Financial aren't the best and they seem to be pretty aggressive on this deal. My wife and I are still carrying ~$13k in credit card debt on 3 cards that we used to get through college, and I would love to wipe those out into a single loan at a significantly better interest rate. Specifics on the debt and our situation:
- 3 cards ranging from 17%-21% interest
- $7k on one Citi, $4k on another Citi, and $3k on a Chase
- All 3 cards close to maxed out as minimum payments aren't putting a dent in the $150+/mo interest
- Both employed making around $80k/year in an area with a low cost of living. No children or mortgage. Mid-late 20s.
- Only other debts are student loans and 2 cars, but those are in much better shape than the credit cards.
- Already approved by GFCU, just have to sign the paperwork.
- Our credit scores are around 720.
I don't want to get hosed on this offer, but from my calculations it would save $4-6k in interest over the next 48 months. I plan to cut two of the cards, keep one in a safe for emergencies, but keep all lines of credit open as the accounts are 7+ years old. What should I look for to make sure this deal doesn't come back to haunt me? I know the big thing is to make sure the debt doesn't re-accumulate on the credit cards.
Submitted May 29, 2017 at 10:40AM by _j_ryan http://ift.tt/2r4hOyC