<prompt> Human: So my sister finally confided with the family that she needs help with her debt, weve taken immediate steps to help her out short term but long term she will have 15k in CC debt she actually had way more but parents are going to pay off student loans and took on some of her other debt starting in March. Weve laid out her budget and she can afford to pay 450 a month towards the debt: my question: would it be better for her to keep jumping from a 0 APR card balance transfer to 0 APR card balance transfer for the next 3-4 years as she pays it down? Or some other method? despite her massive debt, she has a decent credit score at 701.Would her credit rating decline because of frequent balance transfers if her revolving utilization is going down every month? Or would we be better served trying to get a loan at a lower interest rate to pay off? Her current CC interest rate is at 18.7Thanks for the help!Assistant: It is an acceptable plan, but be aware: A 0 APR card does not necessarily mean 0 balance transfers or vice versa. Check carefully. Even a 0 balance transfer card will cost 3-5 to move the balance. The 0 balance transfer rate will last for 12-18 months, after which the regular interest rate applies.So its a workable plan, but itll take 2-4 cards, and will take her being on top of when its time to get a new card, and will also have an effective APR of 2 0 APR for 18 months with 3 fee to 5 0 APR for 12 months with 5 fee.It is unlikely you can get a personal loan for that low; if you can, it may be simpler to do that than deal with the credit cards.Human: that was my thinking, she would have to pay most likely 3 balance transfer fees. although the chase slate card has 0 balance transfer fee, so that would likely mean two balance transfers which would total around 500-600 but on her current card she pays 276 a month in interest so its a complete nobrainer for that card. I was more curious If frequent balance transfers would result in a lower credit score, but would that be offset by having a much lower revolving debt utilization?  <response>: The cost savings from interest really outweigh any credit score factors.That said: Balance transfers are utilization just like any other utilization. This isnt really a problem because, presuming shes not putting anything new on the cards, her utilization will only go down from here. Regardless, this is really only a problem for your credit score if you get above 29 utilization. Opening new cards will lower her average age of credit, which will lower the score. 