topic Re: Balance Transfer Inquiry in Credit Cards

Balance Transfer Inquiry

Dluvr22 — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 16:05:16 GMT

I currently have a couple of cards with high balances that I've been working on paying off however since it has been a year since my last credit inquiry I figured it was high time to try out a Balance Transfer card to lower the interest rates on at least 2 of them

Here's my Situation:

Macys Store Card $4000 CL - $0 Balance - PIF before end of billing cycle

Capital One Secured $750 CL - $0 Balance - PIF before end of billing cycle

Wells Fargo Platinum $500 CL - $0 Balance - PIF before end of billing cycle

AMEX Green - $0 Balance - PIF before end of billing cycle

AMEX Gold - $0 Balance - PIF before end of billing cycle

Chase Freedom - $3500 CL - $800 Balance

Sams Club MC $4000 CL $2000 Balance as of this billing cycle

AMEX Blue Cash Everyday $5500 CL - 3600 Balance as of this billing cycle

AMEX Delta $5000 CL - $3400 Balance as of this billing cycle

Chase Slate $3200 CL - $0

Both the Chase Freedom and the Blue Cash EveryDay has a 0% intro APR for 3 more months

Delta 20% APR and Sams Club MC has 11%

Yesterday I applied and got approved for Chase Slate with the intention of doingf balanche transfers on at least 2 of the 3 cards with a high balance however my approved CL is $3200 and chase wants me to have them do another inquiryt for a CLI to which I politely declined.

I can pay off the Freedom card before the intro APR expires so that's not a worry however there is no way for me to transfer the Delta , BCE and the Sam's Club with such a small CL.

I'm also considering asking Chase to transfer credit from the Freedom to the Slate to give me more wiggle room but I'm wondering how much is sufficient given the balance on the Fredom card.

Once that is done my next question would be how much I can transfer over to the Slate without having a huge impact to my credit score due to high util on the Slate.

In addition as most folks here are aware, I have 60 days to do the balance transfers without a fee so I'm wondering if it would be best to move some balance over, transfer the Delta's balance to the Slate immediately to avoid interest charges on that now, pay off as much as I can on the Freedom within 60 days then transfer more of the Freedom's balance over and move the the Sams' Club balance which will also be a bit lower at that time to the slate or the BCE or even move some of the Delta's CL over to the BCE temporarily to lower util on that card while I work on lowering that balance.

Regarding that though, I have to ask:

Is there a limit to the number of times I can move balances from the Freedpom to the Slate?

It would put a sock in my plans if I can't move balances after I lower the Fredom say 45 days from now.

Also would it be OK to max out the Slate with the transferred balances?

Moderators: Please feel free to move this if I've put it in the wrong forum. Thanks

Re: Balance Transfer Inquiry

onstar — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 20:17:58 GMT

@Dluvr22 wrote:
Yesterday I applied and got approved for Chase Slate with the intention of doingf balanche transfers on at least 2 of the 3 cards with a high balance however my approved CL is $3200 and chase wants me to have them do another inquiryt for a CLI to which I politely declined.
I can pay off the Freedom card before the intro APR expires so that's not a worry however there is no way for me to transfer the Delta , BCE and the Sam's Club with such a small CL.

Note: You cannot do a BT from Freedom to Slate anyway because you cannot BT from another card from Chase Bank.

I'm also considering asking Chase to transfer credit from the Freedom to the Slate to give me more wiggle room but I'm wondering how much is sufficient given the balance on the Fredom card.

Pay off Freedom. Then transfer over $3000 from Freedom to Slate. That should give you a little more room to BT.

Once that is done my next question would be how much I can transfer over to the Slate without having a huge impact to my credit score due to high util on the Slate.
...
Also would it be OK to max out the Slate with the transferred balances?

High utilization on one credit card is not that big a deal.

What I would do:

1. Transfer $3000 CL from Freedom to Slate. Now you have $6200 in CL.

2. BT $3400 from Amex Delta now.

3. BT $2800 from Amex BCE in 50 days (or just before the 60 days ends).

Re: Balance Transfer Inquiry

Dluvr22 — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 01:26:43 GMT

Thanks for the reply.

I read on the application that you can't BT from Chase products to Slate however when I log into my accounts and select BT under the Slate card , I have the Freedom card listed in the dropdown to select for a BT. I haven't tried to go through with it yet but I wonder why they would have it listed but not allow it in the end.

Re: Balance Transfer Inquiry

ksantangelo23 — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 01:36:19 GMT

Last year, a family member of mine managed to receive a Slate CLI immediately by calling in and requesting the CLI for purpose of BT. Increased from 1800 to 3800, no hard or soft pull. I would give that a shot, hopefully you're still in that window of opportunity.

Sent from Mobile

Re: Balance Transfer Inquiry

onstar — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 02:24:13 GMT

@Dluvr22 wrote:
Thanks for the reply.

I read on the application that you can't BT from Chase products to Slate however when I log into my accounts and select BT under the Slate card , I have the Freedom card listed in the dropdown to select for a BT. I haven't tried to go through with it yet but I wonder why they would have it listed but not allow it in the end.

That's a Balance Transfer TO account. You should be selecting Slate there. On the next screen, it will ask you for the credit card number to transfer the balance FROM.

If you choose Freedom on the first screen, then you'll be doing a BT TO Freedom from a third party card.

Re: Balance Transfer Inquiry

Dluvr22 — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 13:19:53 GMT

Thanks for the clarification. It pays to read and pay attention.

I called Chase again and they won't raise the CL without another hard pull so I will try to pay off the balance on the Freedom within 60 days and transfer $3000 as recommended to the Slate and go from there.

Thanks again for the clarification and inputs.