I have approximately 10k in private student loans at 11.5%. I have excellent credit and would be able to pay this off in 1-2 years. What are some of my options to transfer this to a low or no interest credit card? Would it have to start as a cash advance to pay off the loan? The loan is held by a local "non profit" corporation. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Ben

You can either balance transfer the money directly to the lender or to your checking account and pay it off that way. Remember to do a balance transfer that way you won't pay silly cash advance fees and APR.

And check your BT APR and term length to make sure you are comfortable with it.

Read up on A-O-R, you could probably pay it off quick that way.

It's a private student loan so consolidation isn't going to help much. A credit card makes sense here considering the amount involved. You probably wont be able to discharge it in bankruptcy, at least not for a long while, but I assume you're not looking for that option considering it's only 10k. Just make sure you don't forget about the card and pay it off when it's time to do so.

I'm not sure OP can put the private student loan in deferment either.

If payoff in two years is feasible, I don't see much downside in converting 11.5% to 0% for a year. Even if OP ends up paying interest in year two, the balance will be less than $5,000, and should be able to find something with an interest rate less than 11.5%.

Apply for some 0% cards. Note that your monthly payments may be as high as 4% of the balance (up to $400/month). After the 10 months of the 0% offer pass, see if you can apply for some more 0% or low BT rate cards. Apply for business cards so you can hide the balance from your personal credit report. It won't be a cash advance- a Balance Transfer.

You can't consolidate private student loans? I'd double check on that first if I were you. If you can consolidate with Federal Direct you might be able to get a very low APR. Under the terms of my consolidation loan, the APR is set every July 1 based on the rate of the 90-day T-bill, which I'm betting is going to be very low this year.

In any event, I have been considering doing what you're considering, and I haven't been able to make a decision one way or the other, mainly because there are many factors involved. Probably the biggest one is this: will you be able to pay off the entire balance immediately if things go pear shaped? For example: you miss a payment and your CC hikes your APR to 23%? If so, then go for it. Once you get the balance onto CCS, it's just a matter of seeing how long you can carry the balance at 0%. At that rate, there's really no incentive for you to pay it off (other than the probably negligible effect on your credit score).

As others have advised, you should read some of the other threads here to make sure you understand all the factors involved. There are a few concerning how to get money from your CC into your bank account. Some CCS make it easy, others impossible. Citibank has always made it easy by providing checks for balance transfers; you can log into your account and request a BT check be sent to you. If your credit is as good as you say, you should have no trouble getting a Citi card with a $10K credit line and a 0% BT for a year with no fees.

You can consolidate private loans, but you just end up another private loan.

If you can go back to school and have someone else pay for it, you can do what a friend of mine is doing. She's working on a master's degree on her company's dime. However, she's applying for financial aid and qualifying for Stafford loans (mostly unsubsidized, but still). She is taking the money from the Stafford loans and paying down her private loans. So, she'll turn that nasty private stuff into federal loans, with all of the advantages.

I've done this with two private loans from school, each around 10K. One was with Citi and one with FNBO and both have 1.9% for the life of the balance transfer. Compared to 8.5% the loan was at, it was a no brainer. Both Citi and FNBO let you set up automatic withdrawals from your checking or savings account for the minimum payment each month. I can tell you there is absolutely no difference between when i was paying the private loan company vs. the CC company. The payment comes out each month like clockwork and i don't even notice it. The savings over the next 10 years is enormous and well outweighs the student loan interest deduction. That 11.5% rate is enormous, even over 2 years. Run the numbers on some of the online interest calculators and you'll see exactly how much you'll save and if it's worth it to you. Again, it was utterly painless for me and, if you are very responsible with money and will set up the automatic withdrawals, it's a no brainer.

tangent1138 said:is it just the benefit of the lower interest rate or can you earn benefits on the balance transfer (miles, Cash Back, gift cards)?

i've never done a balance transfer so I didn't know if they counted for that kind of thing.

Most of the time, you get nothing but a lower rate for balance transfers

Absolutely right on the the death benefit issue as stated above. This should be factored in when figuring your life insurance needs as the benefit would need to cover the CC debt incurred.