Paul Michael Brown wrote:

- quote -

Yes it is pointless for three months but not for 6 months or a year.
Also why would one need a CD when there is INGDirect savongs at 2.2%.
Also it isnt much effort at all! Personally I got a 0APR for a year and
kept spending on it till I reached the limit and I kept getting offers
for 0APr with no balance transfer fees and kept transferring/spending
more while making payments to my savings account instead of the cards.

- quote -

I understand all this frugal living stuff - why not watch the movie at
home *AND* make the extra 40 (~ 9 movies from Blockbuster)!

Rambo Sythia wrote:

- quote -

ING Savings account at 2.2% and use the 0 APR cards. Most of them also
have no balance transfer fees. If they do, ask them to waive the fees
and they probably will do that. When the 0APR gets over, I pay off the
cards.

- quote -

No one ever "splained it dat way befo"

Cal

pmb[at]his.com (Paul Michael Brown) writes:

- quote -

Thanks, John A. Weeks III and Paul Michael Brown. When you put it
that way, it's not surprising that it's legal.

--
R4S


======================================= MODERATOR'S COMMENT:
Please trim the post to which you respond.

- quote -

It's quite a bit of work for not very much money.

I'll assume that it's possible to get a cash advance on the
interest-charging credit card without a fee. (Although I think that's a
stretch.) I'll also be generous and assume it's possible to find a 90-day
CD paying 2.0 percent per year. (If anybody finds one of these, let me
know.) On $10,000, that's $200 per year. For three months, that's $50. But
that's pre-tax. Again, let's be generous and assume a combined marginal
tax rate of 20 percent. So the after-tax return for all this work is $40.

As Tony Soprano would say, nuthin' for nuthin' but there are far easier
ways to make $40. You could skip a couple of trips to Bennigans for
dinner, you could put in a few hours of overtime, or you could watch TV at
home instead of taking your family to a movie. I realize that "frugal
living" posts are generally off topic here. But my point is that it seems
like quite a bit of hassle for a very small return and you could do just
as well in other ways.

In article <87vfesm9g5.fsf[at]noserose.net> , Rambo Sythia
<rambo4sythia[at]safe-mail.net> wrote:

- quote -

Most of the 0% deals that I know of still have a fee for taking
the money out. That fee is from 1% to 3%, often with some kind
of a cap. Lets assume in your case that it is $50.

CD's are not paying all that much. Lets say you get one for
4%. 10,000 x 4% = $400, divide by 4 to get the 3 month return,
which is $100.

Your $100 profit less $50 fee nets you a cool profit of $50.
Hardly seems worth the effort of the bookeeping that is required,
and the risk if something goes bad is very high. For example,
if one of your minimum payments gets lost in the mail, and you
get a late fee by accident, they may jack up your 0% to 21.99%.
In this case, you get a $29 late fee, which blows most of your
profit, and you are stuck with $183 a month in interest payments
until you can find $10K to pay off the credit card (remember,
your $10K that you borrowed is locked up in the CD, and you
cannot get to it for 90 days).

If you have other high interest rate cards that you can pay
off doing this, then perhaps it would be worth it. But not
for $50 as your maximum upside.

-john-

--
================================================== ==================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john[at]johnweeks.com
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ==================

Hi. I couldn't find this as a FAQ, but I'd be surprised if it's
not. Anyway, I have a credit card with a high credit limit, like
$15,000, and I just got a "0% 'til March 2005" offer from another
card.

I think it's illegal to buy stocks on 100% margin, but would it be
illegal to do the following?

* get $10,000 cash advance from the old card

* transfer the balance to the new card with 0% interest

* get 3-month CD, move it to savings account after 3 mo.

* pay off new card before interest starts in March

I know it would be tricky -- a mistake, overlooked fee, or late
payment would be costly. Other than that, what's the catch?

--
R4S