I just got an offer (I get an offer from them regularly) from Juniper for a balance transfer or any expense for 7.99% until July 2011 with a 4% fee (steep, I know)

While this offer kind of stinks, it still can save you money if you can’t pay it off in the next couple of months.

Here’s how?

I owe $900 on this card with a steep 22.99% APR which translates to about $18 a month in interest.
I have a recurring bill for $850 a month.
If I pay off the balance of the card at $900 from my bank account and use the credit card company check to pay the recurring bill look what happens.
There’s a 4% fee $850*4%=$36 divided by 10 ( months of savings until July 2011) = $3.60 fee/month
The interest rate is 7.99%*$850=67.91 in interest for the year or $5.66 monthly for a total of $9.26
So by doing this we go from $180 ($18 * 10 months) in interest and fees to $92.60 for a savings of $87.40 not counting the fact that if I continue to pay the same amount as before my debt is decreasing faster, which is certainly more that $13 saved in the next 10 months.

This is a huge problem to every American, whether or not you think you are directly affected or not. We can all probably put off selling  or buying a house, selling or buying a car, but what if we already have credit card debt.    The average American with at least 1 credit card owes more than $8000 in credit card debt.

Here are two scenarios that could get people in trouble.

1. If you are credit card surfer, those that shift debt to low or no interest: those offers may dry up, causing minimum payments to go up.
2. If you carry high debt to credit limit: debt limits lowered, means high debt ratio > lower FICO > higher interest rate.

In scenario number 1, you want to make sure you have a back-up plan. Do you have other banks offering you low interest rates now! Now might be a good time to shift, because they may not be available. What is your debt to credit limit per card? Ideally you want to have no more than 80% of your credit limit per card and the lower the better overall.

In scenario 2, it may pay (no pun intended) to get more credit now, so that if it your limits get cut back, then you are still below the  magical 80% ratio of debt to credit limit.

With the Credit Crisis, you won’t find Credit Card companies with 0% interest and zero fees any more but here is one that is worth checking out.

Discover More offers 0% interest for 12 months, with a maximum Balance Transfer fee of $75.