The content is accurate at the time of publication and is subject to change.
Having a credit card is can be quite exciting. They can make it feel like you are richer than ever and can afford so much more than on a regular basis. Most people tend to overdo their spending and then end up with a high balance and an interest rate that makes it difficult to deal with the debts. This situation warrants a balance transfer onto a card that has low interest or 0 interests. These balance transfers when done right can be beneficial but if you blindly do it without understanding all the underlying implications you can end up with bad credit scores. A balance transfer is not to be taken lightly by the consumer, it is important to know all the terms and conditions involved well.
When you do a balance transfer an important factor that you must consider is what is called the utilization rate. When you transferred the $3000 to a new card, you should have checked that this amount is only 30% of the credit limit on the new card ideally. When the amount transferred is over the 30% of the total credit limit then it affects the credit scores of the individual and makes it go down by a certain number of points. What most people fail to look at is the ratio between the balance transfer and credit limit. This is what determines how much your credit score is going to be affected. What you can do in such a situation to avert such issues is to keep the old card open so that your net credit limit is higher.
To the next question which is about the new high balance on your card, yes you can find options to transfer this complete balance onto a new card with 0% interest and no fees. You can also look at some options where there will be no balance transfer fee involved in order to get a better credit limit. When you do your balance transfer or when researching options make sure that the introductory period on your card during which the interest rate is 0 is for a year.