Some people say "tart" as an insult, while others say it as a joke. Either way, it's not a word you usually think of when it comes to money, and especially not when it comes to credit cards. Someone who moves from credit card to credit card to get the best deals is called a "credit card tart." In the process, they can save hundreds of dollars and maybe even make money.
To be a good credit card tart, you need to know a few things and be very organised. Finding out which preferential rate deals are available is part of the knowledge. You have to be organised to remember when to switch from one card to another.
How It Does It
Many credit card companies offer perks to get people to sign up for their cards. Low balance transfer rates are one of these things. People can move balances from credit cards with high interest rates to credit cards with lower interest rates. This interest rate is sometimes as low as 0%, but this is usually only available for a short time, between six months and a year. Other balance transfer offers give a low interest rate for as long as the transferred balance stays on the card.
Credit card companies offer these deals in the hopes that people who take advantage of them will keep using their cards even after the special period is over. Many people do this, but credit card thieves take advantage of these perks. Credit card tarts don't keep their debt on the same card forever. Instead, they move their balances from card to card to get the best deals. This is also called "rate-shopping."
Rate-Shopping: Getting the Most Out of It
People who have a low or no balance transfer rate can pay off some of their balance when they make payments, which can save them a lot of money.
Check the fine print to see what kinds of transactions the preferential interest rate applies to. This will help you get the most out of rate surfing. There might be a different rate for getting cash out, using credit card checks, and buying things.
Keeping your credit score high
The key to being a successful credit card tart or rate surfer is to make all credit card payments on time. If you don't pay on time, it will hurt your credit score. If you have bad credit, getting a new card will be harder the next time you want to take advantage of an offer.
Rate surfers and credit card tarts are no longer fooling credit card companies. Many of them have added a one-time fee for transferring a balance. Most of the time, this is a fixed percentage of the amount being transferred. In some situations, there is no limit on how much the fee can be, so transferring a big balance could cost a lot. Credit card companies do this to make rate surfing less appealing because it costs them hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost interest every year.
Also, credit card companies are getting pickier about who they give credit cards to. This is another way to stop people from being credit card tarts, so if you are one, enjoy it while you can.
