Debt consolidation

[Anonymous]

Which is the better approach:

Move $14,000 in CC debt to a CC with zero interest until October but 5% transfer fee. So basically $700. I doubt I could retire the debt in its entirety by October.

Or

Get a debt consolidation loan with full amortization and no fees. Unsure of interest rate but assume maybe like 8-9% given what I'm seeing advertised (and my FICO score is above 800). If I did it over 3 years, I'd pay about $1,795 in total interest, but the debt would be paid off.

I'd probably also accelerate payments later in 2026 when some cash flow improves.

The monthly payment on the amortized loan would about $440. If I made the same payment on the CC through October, I guess I'd still have a balance of $10,300 I'd have to move again at that point.

Since people get judgy, I'll just say the debt is due to a confluence of emergency vet bills for multiple pets all at once. My recent ex-wife wouldn't contribute to the vet bills and I couldn't make our kids go through putting our animals down on top of everything else when they could continue to live a good life (we're talking about some freak coincidences of accidents, not extending the life of elderly dogs and cats).