Can't transfer balances between Chase CC's

[lsutigers03]

I have a Southwest card and a Freedom card.  I got the Freedom card for better rewards and because I wanted to transfer the balance from my Southwest card.  I called last night and was told that I couldn't do a balance transfer from one card to another if both cards were Chase CC's.  Has anyone experienced this?  Is what I was told correct and I'm SOL?  I only talked to one person at the regular customer service number.

[pizzadude]

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@lsutigers03 wrote:

I have a Southwest card and a Freedom card.  I got the Freedom card for better rewards and because I wanted to transfer the balance from my Southwest card.  I called last night and was told that I couldn't do a balance transfer from one card to another if both cards were Chase CC's.  Has anyone experienced this?  Is what I was told correct and I'm SOL?  I only talked to one person at the regular customer service number.

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I think this is generally true with most creditors ~ they won't BT to/from their own cards....

[lsutigers03]

Ok thanks.  I've never looked into doing a transfer so I didn't know.  Oh well I'll just pay off the old card and use the new one.

[MrShush]

However, what you can do is write a BT check to yourself and use it how you please. Often elluded to by many a CSR as a loophole.

[pizzadude]

Yeah, I think they like it when you are paying them interest....

[lsutigers03]

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@MrShush wrote:
However, what you can do is write a BT check to yourself and use it how you please. Often elluded to by many a CSR as a loophole.

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Can you tell me how I can go about doing this?  Who do I need to talk to?  I've never done a BT of any kind before.

[Walt_K]

Depending on the balances involved and the APR on your card, you can also balance shift by shifting your spending  to another card.  So let's say you've got a new Chase card with a low introductory APR on purchases, you can use that card for all your spend instead of using the old card.  Take the money you would normally have used to PIF the new card, and use all of that to pay down the balance on the old card with the higher APR, making only the minimum payment on the new card with the lower APR.  This way you effectively transfer the balance to the new card and avoid balance transfer fees.  Depending on your monthly spend, it might take a couple months to complete the transfer.

Obviously this doesn't work well unless the card you are transferring to has a purchase APR that is at least comparable to whatever its BT APR would be.

[lsutigers03]

The Freedom card has 0% APR on purchases for six months so that would probably work.

[boomhower]

I've never heard of it before but it does make sense, they aren't going to cost themselves interest you are going to be paying them.

[Creditaddict]

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@lsutigers03 wrote:

The Freedom card has 0% APR on purchases for six months so that would probably work.

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I don't think paying 3-4% to send yourself a BT check and then deposit and write check back to Chase Southwest.... Look into a Citi Card or something with 18-23 months 0%.

and yes you can't do BT within same bank but having a check sent to yourself is usually is easy.