Balance Transfer Question

[queen_britt2003]

Hi,

I have a Walmart MC card with a $1220 balance ($4000 CL).  I have a BOA Rewards card with a $0 balance & $2500 CL.  BOA is offering 0% APR on balance transfers through February 2016.  My APR on Walmart is 20.99.  It makes sense to transfer it, right?  I'm a little concerned that the balance is almost 50% of my BOA CL.  Should I only transfer a portion?  This is my first time doing a balance transfer so I'd appreciate any input.

[Anonymous]

Go ahead and transfer the whole thing. You'll probably pay a 3% fee (check your terms & conditions) for the balance transfer. It's unlikely that BoA will get upset about it, as long as you make your minimum payments. This also assumes that you aren't going to PIF on the Walmart card this month. Otherwise, the APR on the Walmart card doesn't matter because you don't start accruing interest until you fail to PIF. 

[queen_britt2003]

I definitely didn't intended to PIF on the Walmart card.  I will pay a 4% APR on the balance transfer but the 0% APR until Feb 2016 will definitely give me a greater chance to pay off that debt.

I think I'll go through with it.  Thanks for the help

[NRB525]

Go ahead and BT the entire amount over to BofA. I have put higher percentage utilization on recent BT to BofA, USBank, and Discover on my cards, with no issues.

I would say, don't pay minimums on the BofA, but by the same token, don't pay it too fast. Try to pay $200 every month, so by the time Feb 2016 is here the balance is zero, but at the same time, you show a good, over-the-minimum payment pattern to BofA. It's zero percent APR, might as well take advantage of it during the term.

[scorewatcher7]

transfer it all. you might have to pay a small fee, but at 20.9% current, an xfer to a 0% card with a small fee is a rational approach.  

[chalupaman]

Do as much as you reasonably can and don't just make minimum payment when you get your BT transferred since it's BoA you're talking about. Good luck!

[bdhu2001]

Transfer and then budget better.  Don't charge more than you will pay off. Unless there is some emergency, you shouldn't charge more than you can PIF. Make sure to put together a budget and pay any new charges in full along with your budgeted payment amount.

If you have a hard time doing that, then treat your card like cash. If you have the money in your account, you charge and then go on line to make the payment from your account.  If you don't have the money in your account, you don't charge.

I'm saying this, because balance transfers can become a vicious cycle and you must ensure that you don't charge your card back up after you do the transfer.  Also, the quicker you get the BOA card down, the quicker your credit score will improve.

[takeshi74]

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@queen_britt2003 wrote:

It makes sense to transfer it, right?

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Whether or not it makes sense depends not just on balances and offers but the BT fee, whether or not you can pay off the balance without the BT, whether or not you can avoid incurring even more revolving debt after the BT, etc.

[Anonymous]

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@bdhu2001 wrote:

Transfer and then budget better.  Don't charge more than you will pay off. Unless there is some emergency, you shouldn't charge more than you can PIF. Make sure to put together a budget and pay any new charges in full along with your budgeted payment amount.

If you have a hard time doing that, then treat your card like cash. If you have the money in your account, you charge and then go on line to make the payment from your account.  If you don't have the money in your account, you don't charge.

I'm saying this, because balance transfers can become a vicious cycle and you must ensure that you don't charge your card back up after you do the transfer.  Also, the quicker you get the BOA card down, the quicker your credit score will improve.

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People often use their card for christmas expenses and then pay it off over a period of a few months. If thats what people want to do its not really right to tell them to do otherwise. The OP's question was specifically asking about the balance transfer and not budgeting advice.