Balance Transfer Trap

Low-interest balance-transfer cards are becoming popular these days, but remember that those rates only last a few months and then you have to switch cards again.

The negative side effect of this is that at some point all this activity begins to show up on your credit report, and you start to look like at a bad risk.

If you think you can swing from the balance-transfer vines for a few months, just make sure you formally close all your accounts yourself, and then notify the credit-card company to mark the account "closed at customer's request." Otherwise, on your credit report, it will look like the creditor closed your account. Thus making you look like an even worse risk, even when you're doing your best not to be.