Ever since the credit card act went into law, I’ve had a ton of fun reviewing my credit card statements in the mail.
The new table on the statement draws attention to the payoff, ideally encouraging those in debt to pay more than just the minimum to get out of debt.
However, for those of us still carrying large balances due to credit card arbitrage, it paints a different picture, a beautiful reminder of leverage hard at work.
Decades of Leverage
I was all too pleased to see a couple recent statements for some cards that I locked in dirt cheap balance transfers for life.
The 2.99% balance transfer for life from PenFed that we used to buy one of our rental properties shows a payoff table of 23 years. Two other statements with equally low balance transfers for life show 26 years and 29 years.
Really, the only thing better than the credit card company loaning me the dirt cheap money, is the fact that they now have to mail me a statement each month reminding me what a good deal I got, and that they’ll let me keep the good deal for over two decades. Jackpot!
I was even more entertained when I saw a screen shot of the 1908 year payoff posted by a fatwallet member. It’s for a card with 3.99% for life with a payment of interest only plus $1 each month. If only I could find the card that offered such a great deal…
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Is the Penfed offer still available?
The 2.99% for life isn’t anymore, but they do have a two year one now for 4.99% with no fee. I’ll let you know if I see it again.
I like my new statements too. We’ve never had credit card debt, but I like that they are finally disclosing what it actually costs…
Glad you posted the 1908 payoff link. I hadn’t seed the finance forum post until now, and the comments are too funny!
It’s funny how effective actually seeing the math on the cc statements can be. Great post!
Laura Pagles
@fatwallet
Believe it or not, it’s threads like these that caused me to start following your site and including you on my blog roll. I love the articles on the successes you’ve attained by leveraging.
Cheers
Glad to know you like the leverage articles! There’s definitely a lot of money available to earn on other people’s money!