Is it possible to max out a credit card and then transfer balance to pay 0% interest for 40 months?

Question

Last night I've asked a question - What is the catch with "balance transfer" credit cards? - but I wasn't precise enough...

Quite rightfully it was marked as duplicate and provided reference to two more great answers:

• Why do credit card companies keep advertising balance transfers to those who don't carry a balance?
• https://money.stackexchange.com/a/25174/9663
• Also the tag: https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/balance-transfer

Now the question - is it possible to:

1. fully utilise existing credit card (buy stuff aka speculative investment)
2. transfer balance at 3% fee
3. then not pay any interest for 40 months

Of course I should be super-vigilant to fully pay off the card before the full interest kicks in. I should also keep minimal monthly repayments... Is there anything I need to know to make it real?

Answer 1

Sure is it possible.

What does it give you? You basically get a '3% in 40 months' credit for 10 or 20 or 30 k$ (whatever your max is), that makes about 0.8%-0.9% per year. That's a relatively cheap credit, but that's all you get.
Your credit score will go down, because you'll have a pretty high ratio, and your other credit cards might go up in interest (which only matters if you carry a balance). If you want to buy a car or a house within these 40 months, you are paying an arm and a leg more on the loan/mortgage.

That doesn't seem like a good deal for me. Aside from the fact that if you don't pay back in time, it immediately becomes a nightmare credit card debt.

But if you think that is a good deal, go ahead and do it.