Joshua Heckathorn

Dear Creditnet: I have a new rewards credit card that offers 0% interest for 12 months. My plan is to transfer all my existing credit card debt to this card so I can save on interest in 2012. Do I have to make minimum payments at all during the first year, or can I just save up my money and make a one-time payment in full before the 0% interest promotion ends?

[ You have the dreaded double whammy on your credit reports—a charge-off and collection for the same old debt.  But how did this happen? Frankly, the whole process can be quite confusing to most consumers, which is why I've done my best to break it down into the following six simple steps.  While your situation might be a little bit different, my experience has been that 90% of the time this is exactly how it all plays out.

 We always see increased activity in our Credit Talk Forum as the new year begins.  It makes complete sense since the start of a new year often brings a renewed sense of urgency to get your financial house in order. And for a lot of people these days, the number one thing on their mind is cleaning up their credit reports and getting their credit scores back to an acceptable level so they can purchase a new home, car, or get their foot in the door for a new job.  So how do most people start the process? They typically begin researching online, joining forums, pulling free credit reports, and wondering "when will these old debts I've been trying to ignore for all these years actually go away?"  This is a question I've seen and answered in our forum at least a dozen times this month, so I thought it would be a good idea to quickly address it here on the blog as well.