Credit geeks, Is there any downside?

You may not have any long term obligation to stay with the card company/s. So take the low interest for 12 months then switch to a new card. Your original provider may then have a similar special offer.

Remember the 15% int is annual, so you hopefully will have paid off quite a bit of it before a year.

The other option is to beg or borrow (don't advo stealing) small amounts ($100) from relatives or others who may have shared in the joy of your spending.

Your credit will only take a hit for a few points for the hard inquiries caused by applying for the two new accounts. Your problem may be that you won't get approved for both of those 0% cards and/or you won't get the full limit. Those offers usually say "up to" when speaking of the limit. You are not acctually pre-approved, but pre-selected. There is no guarantee you will get either card.

As long as you make you payments large enough to pay off the balance before the end of the special interest offer, you should be okay, PROVIDED, you don't run up the balances back up on the existing cards. Shifting debt from one to another only works if you are disciplined enough to pay off the balance.

I would NEVER sign up for a credit card that was going to charge you 39% interest! Are you kidding? That is more than twice what you are paying now.

You "would like to" pay down or off the balance before the promo period runs out, but what if something happens and you cannot? Do you realize you would probably never get that card paid off at 39% interest?

Instead of going for this card, concentrate on paying as much as you can on the card with 15% interest. If something where to happen to you: healthwise or job wise/income, you certainly wouldn't be in as much of a jam being charged 15% a month as you would 39% a month! LOL

If you are late one payment, the offer is gone.

There could be an annual fee for this card.

There could be a hefty balance transfer fee.

You really need to read all the fine print.

The date starts the day you apply for the card, not the date of your first statement.

So in reality its 5 months.

They may not give you a $5,000 credit limit.

Suggestion: Work aggressively in paying down your current card in 5 months at 15% interest. In your future, for best credit pay balances in full each month.

Carrying balances can easily cause serious damage to credit scores.