Balance Transfer question on how to use it

[Anonymous]

Hi, I am new to balance transfer and don't know if I am getting a good deal here. I have a citi diamond card and they are giving me an offer for a balance transfer. My statement only shows APR for Standard Purchase at 17.99% (v) and Advance standard at 25.24% (v). There is no Balance Transfer APR on the statement, but the offer is telling me 0.00% Promo APR until 12/01/2015 and 17.99 % Variable after 12/01/2015 and on Balance Transfer including Direct Deposit. Is this a good offer, I will copy and paste the offer at the bottom.

My question is

Does the Balance Transfer APR of 0.00% has any effect with Standard Purchase?

If I take out $5000 and Direct Deposit to my checking account when do I have to pay them back, is it monthly payment?

I am looking to paying them back the full balance within a year so what do I own them within the $5000, is it the 3% fee?

Offer:

• 0.00% Promotional APR on Balance Transfers.

• After this promotional offer ends, your standard variable APR for purchases of 17.99% will be applied to any unpaid promotional balances. This APR will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.

Duration:

• Until 12/01/2015.

Fee:

• $5 or 3% of the amount of each transaction, whichever is greater.

[NRB525]

The BT amount will show up on your statement as a separately identified bucket, with a 0% rate. You don't see it now because you haven't used the BT feature yet.

BT usually means transfer to pay down another credit card.

In order to deposit cash to your bank account, that is a cash advance, usually not part of this opening 0% APR offer.

Yes, you need to start paying it back monthly. It becomes a balance on your CC and all open balances on your CC are included in the monthly minimum payment calculations for that month.

You will pay a fee of 3% for the BT, but no interest on those funds during the BT period. Then it will start calculating the 17.99% from the day the BT ends.

Hope that helps.

[coldnmn]

If it doesn't say 0% on purchases it's my understanding you will owe interest on purchases even if you have 0% on bank transfers as your carrying a balance. The only way to know for sure is call and ask.

[bdhu2001]

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@coldnmn wrote:

If it doesn't say 0% on purchases it's my understanding you will owe interest on purchases even if you have 0% on bank transfers as your carrying a balance. The only way to know for sure is call and ask.

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The way to not pay % on purchases is to pay the full purchase amount + the minimum. A law was change that prevented banks from applying payments to the lowest interest first.  Unless they conned Congress into changing that law too.  Thus, any amount above the minimum, goes to the highest interest instead of the lowest.

[Anonymous]

I am on the Balance Transfer page on citi website it says "Get Money for Personal Use" "Promotional Balance Transfer rate applies" and it's telling me the ammount to enter and if I want a check sent to me or a direct deposit. in a bank account. "You can get money for personal use at the balance transfer rate. Have the money sent by direct deposit into your bank account in 1-2 days or by a check mailed to your address on file."

Is this part of the balance transfer or cash advance. I am on the Balance Transfer page and on the bottom it's asking if I ant to pay any Creditors from $100 and up.

[Gunnar419]

Well said, bdhu.

If you have both BT and purchase balances on your card, read the fine print on your statement. Somewhere (buried deep) it will probably say something like, "To avoid interest charges, pay $XXX.XX by the due date." That figure will cover the existing purchase balance on the card. Check it every month and pay it off and you'll be good.

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am on the Balance Transfer page on citi website it says "Get Money for Personal Use" "Promotional Balance Transfer rate applies" and it's telling me the ammount to enter and if I want a check sent to me or a direct deposit. in a bank account. "You can get money for personal use at the balance transfer rate. Have the money sent by direct deposit into your bank account in 1-2 days or by a check mailed to your address on file."

Is this part of the balance transfer or cash advance. I am on the Balance Transfer page and on the bottom it's asking if I ant to pay any Creditors from $100 and up.

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This looks like, indeed, you will be able to take a cash advance to your checking account. The 3% fee would apply, it would be 0% rate on your monthly statement.

To +1 the earlier comments, if you make purchase transactions on the card also, then you can avoid paying interest on those by paying the minimum payment due plus the full amount of that months new purchase charges.

[Anonymous]

OP, I am sorry I can't offer any advice but is it OK if I post a BT question here as well? I'm new to this BT thing but didn't want to open a new thread.

[Anonymous]

To Rookie2008 sure go ahead.

Another question if I do a Balance Transfer and you said I have to pay back in a month do I have to pay the full ammount or are they going to give me a minimum to pay back.

[Anonymous]

Thanks OP. I heard that chase no longer does BT's within the same financial institution.  Meaning I have to use 2 different banks correct? Well my problems lies, that chase happens to be my largest limit. So my question is can I purchase the television I want using my slate card an still receiving the benefits of the 0% APR. for the 1st 15 months, without actually doing a BT? Unfortunately the T.V I want to get exceeds all my other limits.