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One of the industry's largest mining chip manufacturers is weighing in on new controversy surrounding how miners engage with the network.

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America's credit card debt problems are creeping back to pre-recession levels. The country has accumulated nearly $1 trillion in debt on plastic, and the average household is carrying a balance of nearly $8,400.

If you're one of the millions of Americans struggling with credit card debt, the last thing you need is the temptation of yet another card, right? Actually, the right credit card could be your ticket to paying off that debt and saving a lot of money on interest in the process. 

Nearly every large card issuer now offers "balance transfer" services, and the promotions for them have rarely been better. A balance transfer is a pretty simple concept. Essentially, it's when one credit card company offers to take your debt from a competing company for a small fee, enticing you with a much lower interest rate than you're currently paying — at least initially. 

Right now, these promo interest rates are very enticing indeed. In a recent survey of 100 credit cards, CreditCards.com found that 89 offered a balance transfer option, and 38 offered a teaser interest rate of 0%. A zero-percent rate can be a godsend if you're currently languishing with traditional credit card rates and a high balance. 

The most common fee charged for the transfer right now is 3% of the balance. So if you're transferring $1,000, you'll pay $30 for that luxury. If you're one of the households with $8,000 in debt, that fee is $240. 

But if you're responsible and serious about paying off your debt, that fee could be worth it. Citi's Diamond Preferred card currently offers one of the best deals out there: 21 months with a 0% interest rate, for a 3% fee. Most cards only give you 12 to 15 months at the interest-free rate. 

So, on that $8,000 debt, let's assume you were paying 17% in interest before the transfer. After transferring, if you pay off $393 each month, you'll have eliminated the balance during the introductory rate period, saving over $3,600, including the $240 transfer fee. 

Those savings escalate depending on how high your original interest rate was. If you were paying 22% APR on a store credit card, you'd be saving $6,300 in the same scenario.

If you're not responsible, though, you're better off just forgetting the whole proposition. After the intro rate expires, you'll start paying a more traditional rate (the precise figure will depend largely on your credit score, but for the Citi card the range is 12.49% to 22.49%). So if you haven't made a dent in your balance or, even worse, have accrued more debt, you're not going to fare well.

"Balance transfer cards are great inasmuch as the people who use them are taking advantage of the zero-interest grace period to get out of the debt and not simply to tread water," John Ulzheimer, a 25-year veteran of the credit industry who spent years at credit bureaus Equifax and FICO, told Business Insider. "They're also dangerous, because if you don't pay off your balance before the zero-interest grace period expires, you may find yourself paying interest retroactive to the day you opened the card. And, to the extent your balance transfer card also allows for no interest on new purchases (which a lot of them do) you have to be careful not to stack new debt on top of existing debt."

You also have to watch out for fees. As tempting as Citi's Diamond Preferred offer is, CreditCards.com notes that it charges higher penalties, including a variable rate of up to 29.99%, for people who make late payments. 

But, if you're one of the growing number of Americans feeling financially crippled by credit card debt, a balance transfer could be just the reprieve you need to get back on track to financial wellness. 

"Card debt is nearing $1 trillion. Rates are rising. Delinquencies are finally starting to rise. Zero percent balance transfer introductory offers are the longest they've ever been. Add it all up, and it's a great, great time to shop for balance transfer cards," Matt Schulz, a senior analyst at CreditCards.com, told Business Insider. "People just need to beware of the fees, post-introductory rates, and other details associated with the cards."

If you're interested in pursuing a balance transfer, check out CreditCards.com's ranking of the best cards, and play around with its balance transfer calculator to see how the math adds up for you. Just note that CreditCards.com makes money from card issuers when they refer readers.

SEE ALSO: The values of credit card, airline, and hotel points can vary wildly — and there's a website that keeps track of them all

SEE ALSO: I used a simple credit card trick to dig out of debt when I couldn't pay my bills

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LONDON — Fitch Ratings has found a way for banks to safeguard themselves from heavy losses should the commercial property market crash.

Naturally, the greater percentage a bank lends towards a property, the greater risk the bank takes on. When it comes to commercial property — anything from offices to shops — in a major market downturn, it can be doubly risky because commercial real estate (CRE) owners can run up millions upon millions in debt, and if a business goes bust, it will not be able to pay its bills. 

This is what happened during the credit crisis of 2007/2008.

In a report sent to Business Insider, credit ratings agency Fitch argues that by looking at CRE loans during the two years leading up to the credit crisis (2005-2007), it found a new key way in which banks can safeguard against heavy losses should a seismic market crash happen again.

The report titled "UK CRE: Countercyclical Lending Boosts Loan Returns," argues that first of all, the usual way for firms to lend money against property is via the loan-to-value (LTV) mechanism — the ratio of a loan to the value of an asset purchased. The higher the percentage, the higher the risk is for the lender. 

Fitch says by calculating the LTV cyclically-corrected value (CCV) of a commercial property and only lending a certain percentage against that, this would help banks bear losses or even breakeven, in the event of a market crash.

CCV is determined by Fitch as a reduction of a property’s open market value by any overvaluation by the current market — which is made up of prime rents and yields with their long-term trends and averages. In other words, a property may be worth £1 million right now but after reducing this by how inflated its price is by looking at overvaluation calculations, you will come up with a CCV number.

For example, based on Fitch's calculations, a "65% LTV loan made on a Birmingham industrial property would currently result in an 84.5% LTCCV (the methodology reports 130% overvaluation in this market segment)."

Fitch found that during 2005-2007 banks that lent to a 75% LTVCCV had "broken even" even though there was a market crash. Those which lent up to 70% of the LTVCCV protected banks from half of portfolio losses. 

"We believe a long-term cyclically-corrected measure of market value provides UK CRE lending businesses with a useful risk management tool," said Euan Gatfield, Fitch’s head of EMEA Commercial mortgage-backed securities.

"Our analysis of pre-crisis loans indicates that interest coverage ratios and loan-to-value metrics kicked in too late in the property cycle, whereas a cyclically-corrected measure would have offered forward-looking protection."

And banks may need to make sure where they stand in light of the state of Britain's property market right now. Morgan Stanley recently said three separate indices that measure major movements in UK house prices are heading to zero or going negative.

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