Balance Transfer Questions...Need help

[missjae]

Hello,

I just got a B of A card with a 0% BT offer for 12 mos.  I have 4-5 cards with balances, but am stuck on which balance I should transfer because my limit is only $2500 and I'm not sure if I should max it out, or transfer a smaller balance and leave the other card with a zero balance OR if I should transfer half a balance to my B of A card and leave the rest of the balance on the card.

For example, I have a Discover card with $3,000 limit and about a $2,500 balance give or take a few bucks.  Should I transfer the whole balance to B of A, or only part of it to keep utl down on both cards?

or

Should I do a BT from a card with a smaller balance, say $1200 or $1800, that way the B of A card is not maxed and I have a whole account paid off?

Hopefully my post hasn't been too confusing.  Any help is appreciated.

Other details, I am at 20% utl overall, but 3 cards are over 50% utl individually.  I may or may not have the money to pay all of my accounts off in full within a few months.  Ck tells me my credit score is lowered my high utl on individual cards....

ETA: All of the cards carrying balances have about the same interest rate which is in the 20% range...

[Creditaddict]

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@missjae wrote:

Hello,

I just got a B of A card with a 0% BT offer for 12 mos.  I have 4-5 cards with balances, but am stuck on which balance I should transfer because my limit is only $2500 and I'm not sure if I should max it out, or transfer a smaller balance and leave the other card with a zero balance OR if I should transfer half a balance to my B of A card and leave the rest of the balance on the card.

For example, I have a Discover card with $3,000 limit and about a $2,500 balance give or take a few bucks.  Should I transfer the whole balance to B of A, or only part of it to keep utl down on both cards?

or

Should I do a BT from a card with a smaller balance, say $1200 or $1800, that way the B of A card is not maxed and I have a whole account paid off?

Hopefully my post hasn't been too confusing.  Any help is appreciated.

Other details, I am at 20% utl overall, but 3 cards are over 50% utl individually.  I may or may not have the money to pay all of my accounts off in full within a few months.  Ck tells me my credit score is lowered my high utl on individual cards....

ETA: All of the cards carrying balances have about the same interest rate which is in the 20% range...

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If all the interest rates are about the same I would try to make as many of the cards $0 as possible.... so if you have 3 cards with balances and can pay 2 in full and a small amount of the 3rd or what not I would do that over transferring the entire discover and leaving 2 other cards with balances.

did you get the Bank of America instant approval online? maybe it would be worth calling backdoor and requesting an increase to be able to take the entire BT of all the current cards?? might cost you another HP on TU

[missjae]

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@Creditaddict wrote:

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@missjae wrote:

Hello,

I just got a B of A card with a 0% BT offer for 12 mos.  I have 4-5 cards with balances, but am stuck on which balance I should transfer because my limit is only $2500 and I'm not sure if I should max it out, or transfer a smaller balance and leave the other card with a zero balance OR if I should transfer half a balance to my B of A card and leave the rest of the balance on the card.

For example, I have a Discover card with $3,000 limit and about a $2,500 balance give or take a few bucks.  Should I transfer the whole balance to B of A, or only part of it to keep utl down on both cards?

or

Should I do a BT from a card with a smaller balance, say $1200 or $1800, that way the B of A card is not maxed and I have a whole account paid off?

Hopefully my post hasn't been too confusing.  Any help is appreciated.

Other details, I am at 20% utl overall, but 3 cards are over 50% utl individually.  I may or may not have the money to pay all of my accounts off in full within a few months.  Ck tells me my credit score is lowered my high utl on individual cards....

ETA: All of the cards carrying balances have about the same interest rate which is in the 20% range...

---

If all the interest rates are about the same I would try to make as many of the cards $0 as possible.... so if you have 3 cards with balances and can pay 2 in full and a small amount of the 3rd or what not I would do that over transferring the entire discover and leaving 2 other cards with balances.

did you get the Bank of America instant approval online? maybe it would be worth calling backdoor and requesting an increase to be able to take the entire BT of all the current cards?? might cost you another HP on TU

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Thank you for the info.  Does it matter if I max the B of A card out?

I had to call to get the approval and it wasn't easy lol.  I don't think they will raise the limit.  I'm surprised they gave me this, so I want to use it responsibly before they change their mind.

[Mopar_Jones]

BoA will see that you transferred the balance, so no.. it won't matter if you 'max it out' but try to keep a cushion of a couple hundred bucks though.. don't leave a couple cents..

[missjae]

Thank you Creditaddict and Mopar.  I took the advice and was able to pay off 2 cards in full, plus leave just short of $400 after the fee.  I've never done this before, but the interest savings will be astronomical.  I appreciate the help!

[Mopar_Jones]

Good job!

Even though your utilization of your overall credit lines might still be the same, there are a couple beneficial reasons to do balance transfers if you don't have the option to pay it off with cash..

Obviously, the interest savings..

Then you have the fact that if you apply for new credit, when your CR gets pulled, they will see only one or two cards in use rather than 4. Even though it might appear to be carrying a balance close to the limit, they'd rather see only one or two cards being used rather than ALL of the cards you have, even if it's technically the same amount of credit being utilized. Having a couple cards reporting a 0 balance will help you..

Personally, I also think that when BoA sees you transfer a balance, and you pay it off in a somewhat timely manner, that helps you with them internally. You'll see an auto CLI in about 6 months from them as long as your other tradelines are good..