Go-To Rate

  

Because our credit rating is oh so good, we receive tons of credit card offers in the mail every day. Most of them go right into the blue bin. But today, an offer from a company called Furtive & Dupe, Inc. catches our eye. “Zero percent interest for 24 months!” the envelope screams. “No minimum transfer balance!”

“Well that’s a good deal,” we think, opening the envelope to get more details.

Hidden in the fine print, we find the catch: after that 24-month introductory interest rate of 0% expires, the rate on the card goes up to 33.79%. In other words, the go-to rate, the rate we’re stuck with once the introductory rate expires, is dang near 34%, which is not a good deal at all.

Most go-to rates tend to fall somewhere between 12% and 29%. That’s a pretty big swing, which is why it’s important to ARFP: Always Read the Fine Print. If we pay off our cards every month like good little consumers, then we might care less about what the card’s interest rate is, because we’re not paying interest on a balance from month to month. But if we do carry a balance on one or more credit cards, we should definitely be paying attention to both introductory and go-to rates. Because if our credit is decent, there’s a chance we could save ourselves some money by switching to another card.

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Finance: What is Imputed Interest Rate?1 Views

00:00

Finance allah shmoop What is imputed interest rate Imputed guest

00:09

at or presumed based on x y and z that's

00:13

the foundation of an imputed interest rate and its chief

00:16

cheerleader Yep It's the i r s the tax people

00:20

those guys you just love to hear from Why Well

00:23

because taxes need to be collected Right We have pork

00:26

to buy for politicians Come on people Get with it

00:29

So we have a zero coupon bond here We bought

00:31

for five hundred bucks which comes do or pays off

00:34

in ten years for a thousand dollars on lee Remember

00:38

Zero coupon bonds don't pay any interest along the way

00:41

They just pay a one time end of period amount

00:44

which includes interest and principal The irs taxes Bondholders imputed

00:51

interest Yes like gains based on whatever interest rate is

00:55

imputed by the terms of the deal So in this

00:59

case remember that rule of seventy two thing so many

01:02

years to doubled about it into seventy two and all

01:04

that Yeah So in this case the money takes ten

01:07

years to double that's ten into seventy two paying seven

01:10

point two percent interest per year Compound it So the

01:15

irs would take as an imputed interest Five hundred box

01:20

times seven point two which is thirty six dollars of

01:23

taxable imputed interest games And they would take that each

01:27

year and you'd pay that each year on your taxes

01:29

So if you owned this bond and we're living in

01:32

a forty percent marginal tax bracket blue state which you

01:35

livin bitterly even though you got no cash interest from

01:39

this bond will you'd suffer a cash tax hit of

01:43

forty percent of thirty six or a bit under fifteen

01:46

dollars each year as you went along So that's the

01:49

bad news you pay the cash up front The good

01:51

news is that when the bond finally came do that

01:54

decade later for that grand well you have already paid

01:58

the taxes along the way And when taxes are already 00:02:01.504 --> [endTime] paid well we impute you'll be a happier camper

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