topic Re: Looking for a good 0% balance transfer card in Credit Card Applications

Looking for a good 0% balance transfer card

StihlBilly — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 18:54:43 GMT

I have a balance of about $9k on PNC Core Visa that I've been paying down for the last year or so. The 0% expires in April of this year and unfortunately I won't have knocked it out by then. Looking for a good card to open and transfer to. Current scores (via Credit Karma) are 701 TU and 709 EQ. Current cards are as follows: Capital One Quicksilver-$15,000 CL, zero balance; Lowes/Synchrony Bank-$20,000 CL, zero balance; PNC Core Visa-$12,500 CL, $9,000 balance. No late payments in my history (mortgage, student loans, truck payment, etc...) whatsoever, overall usage is at 18%. Still have a CH7 BK on my report discharged in March of 2013 so I'm coming up on eight years. Credit Karma is showing me a Citibank Diamond Preferred Mastercard stating "excellent approval odds" with a 0% balance transfer for 18 months. Should I go for it or are there other better ones I should consider?

Re: Looking for a good 0% balance transfer card

FinStar — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 21:10:17 GMT

Do not fall for the Credit Karma trap on the approval odds recommendations. They simply peddle cards because it's a monetized portal by CK and the lenders. Also, CK provides Vantage scores and are not deemed as reliable as your true FICO scores - which are widely used by lenders.

You are well within the range where Citi might consider you for a card given that you're 7+ years out of BK, so as long as you didn't burn Citi. Only thing, if approved, it may not be a high SL for the current balance you're attempting to BT.

Are you a member of any credit unions? Can you check and see if there are any BT offers available with your current Capital One card? Are there any specific lenders that were included in BK?

Re: Looking for a good 0% balance transfer card

Curious_George2 — Sun, 07 Feb 2021 06:32:06 GMT

+1 to all that.

If you are eligible for membership in Navy Federal CU, their Platinum card is the best around for balance transfers. Never any transfer fee, promotional 0% APR for new cardholders, and often very generous limits. I have one. It's great and so is NFCU.

Re: Looking for a good 0% balance transfer card

StihlBilly — Sun, 07 Feb 2021 12:07:42 GMT

@FinStar wrote:
Do not fall for the Credit Karma trap on the approval odds recommendations. They simply peddle cards because it's a monetized portal by CK and the lenders. Also, CK provides Vantage scores and are not deemed as reliable as your true FICO scores - which are widely used by lenders.

You are well within the range where Citi might consider you for a card given that you're 7+ years out of BK, so as long as you didn't burn Citi. Only thing, if approved, it may not be a high SL for the current balance you're attempting to BT.

Are you a member of any credit unions? Can you check and see if there are any BT offers available with your current Capital One card? Are there any specific lenders that were included in BK?

Its been so long I can't remember if Citi was in there or not. At the time we had crazy amounts of CC debt-BofA was in there definitely. I'll have to check the petition. Interestingly enough at the time my truck loan was through NFCU (my dad is a Navy veteran) but I reaffirmed it and eventually paid the truck off. Not sure if they would be holding a grudge since they didn't lose anything in the CH7? Assuming I don't find Citi on the BK petition I may try for it just to see what happens.

Re: Looking for a good 0% balance transfer card

AverageJoesCredit — Sun, 07 Feb 2021 13:26:05 GMT

@StihlBilly wrote:
@FinStar wrote:
Do not fall for the Credit Karma trap on the approval odds recommendations. They simply peddle cards because it's a monetized portal by CK and the lenders. Also, CK provides Vantage scores and are not deemed as reliable as your true FICO scores - which are widely used by lenders.

You are well within the range where Citi might consider you for a card given that you're 7+ years out of BK, so as long as you didn't burn Citi. Only thing, if approved, it may not be a high SL for the current balance you're attempting to BT.

Are you a member of any credit unions? Can you check and see if there are any BT offers available with your current Capital One card? Are there any specific lenders that were included in BK?
Its been so long I can't remember if Citi was in there or not. At the time we had crazy amounts of CC debt-BofA was in there definitely. I'll have to check the petition. Interestingly enough at the time my truck loan was through NFCU (my dad is a Navy veteran) but I reaffirmed it and eventually paid the truck off. Not sure if they would be holding a grudge since they didn't lose anything in the CH7? Assuming I don't find Citi on the BK petition I may try for it just to see what happens.

If you didnt burn Navy , go for it. If the sl isnt the best , recon is possible, maybe not probable but nows the time to rekindle that fire

Re: Looking for a good 0% balance transfer card

StihlBilly — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 15:35:21 GMT

I pulled out the petition and saw that Citibank was on the list of noticed creditors in the CH7 but that the balance was $0.00. IIRC I probably had a balance on a Citibank card and had transferred it to another one and closed the account but the attorney noticed every creditor on my report just in case. In any event they didn't lose anything so in theory they shouldn't count anymore than the fact that I had a BK against me, right?

Re: Looking for a good 0% balance transfer card

Curious_George2 — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 16:10:31 GMT

I have nothing to add regarding your BK question, but I want to reiterate a point that was made above. Citi might not give you a SL that will put a big dent in your $9k balance.

They have tightened the purse strings lately. The top end of their CLIs now is $1500, with an occasional $2k. For comparison, Navy lowered their CLI cap from $8k to $4k. CLIs aren't exactly the same thing as SLs, but I think they offer a helpful insight into underwriting generally.

Diamond Preferred is designed to do BTs better than it does anything else, but I think people are often underwhelmed by the SL they get on it. I know I was. I got one way back in 2016. My scores were probably in the mid to high 600s. My SL was $1800. That same month, Chase gave me a card with an SL of $12k.

Re: Looking for a good 0% balance transfer card

StihlBilly — Sat, 27 Feb 2021 03:50:48 GMT

@Curious_George2 wrote:
Diamond Preferred is designed to do BTs better than it does anything else, but I think people are often underwhelmed by the SL they get on it. I know I was. I got one way back in 2016. My scores were probably in the mid to high 600s. My SL was $1800. That same month, Chase gave me a card with an SL of $12k.

I decided to pull the trigger and got an approval from Citi on the Diamond Preferred for $8,900! I'm planning on throwing some cash at the PNC card this month and transferring what's left to the Citi Diamond Preferred. I'm thinking about also going for another long term balance transfer card to spread the balances out and decrease my utilization. Any suggestions?

Re: Looking for a good 0% balance transfer card

FinStar — Sat, 27 Feb 2021 04:30:07 GMT

Thanks for the update OP and congrats on the Citi DP approval👍

Locking this thread as you have been approved. Feel free to start a new thread in the Approvals forum if you would like to do so.