Credit card balance transfer vs personal loan, which one saved me more?

I had $8,400 on a capital one card at 24% apr and had to pick between a 0% balance transfer card with a 3% fee or a 12-month personal loan through my credit union in Austin. I went with the transfer card and paid it off in 10 months flat, but the payment schedule was way stricter than I expected. Has anyone else tried both paths and found one easier to stick with even if the math was similar?

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piper77921d ago

Did you actually calculate the fee into your payoff timeline? I had $6,700 on a Chase card at 26% and did the same thing, 0% transfer with a 4% fee. My personal loan quote through a local bank was 11% flat, so the math said loan was cheaper on paper. But I knew I'd drag my feet with a loan payment that felt "normal" and would end up paying it off slow. The transfer card's due date was like a gun to my head because the 0% was gonna expire, so I threw every extra dollar at it, even skipped a couple of weekends out. Paid it off in 8 months, and the fee ended up costing me about $268, but the loan would have cost me $380 in interest if I dragged it out the full year. For me, the thing that saved more was the deadline, not the rate.