QuestForAMillion.net

Now that we’ve paid our 0% credit card off, we’ve gone and built a balance on another 0% card. About a week ago we received some “convenience checks” from one of our credit cards. We get these all time and they usually have a nice low or 0% interest offer for 6 months or so. We haven’t used this card in over a year and generally we just shred the checks and go on about our business. Because we’ve been busy I put these checks in the shred pile but never got around to actually shredding them. Today I looked at them and liked what I saw: 0% interest until the statement closing date in January 2009. Since our statement closes at the end of the month, this offer gives us 11 months of free money.

After running the numbers we decided to take advantage of the offer. I called the 800 number on the back of our card and learned that our minimum payment is 1% of the outstanding balance, plus interest and fees each month. More good news. I had the nice lady on the phone transfer a large chunk of cash to our checking account. Once it clears we’ll pay off our remaining car loan and student loan. There will be some money left over which is going straight to savings. Because our overall payment obligations will drop by about $350 per month, we’ll increase our savings transfers by that amount. Actually, we’re about doubling our transfers to Savings & Debt each month. We’re able to do this because I’m no longer putting part of my paycheck into our credit union savings account to make the car payment. That money is now going into checking and eventually to Savings & Debt.

Now our plan is to pile money into the Savings & Debt account while making minimum payments on the 0% credit card. The numbers show we’ll have more than enough to pay off the credit card before the 0% offer is over, all the while earning interest rather than paying interest. Man I love free money and I love being in a position to take advantage of it.