Since I started Smart Balance Transfers in the summer of 2007, more than 14,000 people have applied for and been approved for 0% APR balance transfer credit cards. This is no small number and I recently became curious as to how much money visitors to this site have saved.
To begin, I stared with a low estimate. I assumed the average person transferred only $1000 from a credit card with a 14% interest rate. Using this number, Smart Balance Transfers has helped our visitors save 1.8 MILLION dollars in less than two years.
However impressive that number seemed, I believe it is a dramatic understatement of how much visitors have saved. For starters, the majority of people I have communicated with via email have balances of close to $10,000. Plus, according to many statistics, the average household also has close to $10,000 in debt. Therefore, if the average balance transfer on Smart Balance Transfers was $10,000 (and the previous interest rate was only 10%), this site would have saved its visitors a mind blowing 16.8 MILLION dollars since its inception.
Now, as much as I’d like this to be true, I think the actual savings falls somewhere in between 1.8 million and 16.8 million. Nevertheless, the savings reaped by visitors of Smart Balance Transfers is noteworthy, and one of the main motivators for me to spend my time researching and writing about credit cards.
In 2009, I hope to continue helping people save money. Credit card companies, and more specifically, the banks that issue them, have been treating consumers with nothing but disrespect all year long. Balance transfer fees have risen substantially since the beginning of 2008 and many banks have shortened the duration of 0% introductory rates. On top of all this, it now requires a much higher credit score to gain approval for a new credit card.
Hopefully, the economy will mend and banks will again become generous with 0% rates. Unfortunately, this probably won’t happen for at least a few months. Nevertheless, I look forward to helping people like you save money and appreciate all the kind words I’ve received from visitors over the past few years.
For information on how much you can save with a 0% balance transfer, try our balance transfer calculator.