topic Re: Balance transfer help in Credit Cards

Balance transfer help

Bigtonyp24 — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 03:28:19 GMT

My fiancé has a credit with very high balance. It's her only card she has with a balance. It's 12k what card should she get for a transfer and who would be generous with limit. She has around 700 score. She has roughly 70k in open credit

Re: Balance transfer help

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 03:42:56 GMT

With the information that you provided, it seems like your fiance wouldn't have much trouble applying for a BT card, but to transfer the full 12k to only one card might not be possible. She might need to transfer to 2-3 cards, which wouldn't help much in term of minimum payment but should help her avoid the interest (some BT has minimum payment of $25 while other a percentage of the balance).

Some suggestions:

Chase Slate

Discover IT

Citi Thankyou Preferred

Citi Simplicity

Re: Balance transfer help

NRB525 — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 03:49:10 GMT

@Bigtonyp24 wrote:
My fiancé has a credit with very high balance. It's her only card she has with a balance. It's 12k what card should she get for a transfer and who would be generous with limit. She has around 700 score. She has roughly 70k in open credit

With $70k already in open credit cards, (those are credit cards, right?) Which credit cards does she have and what are the limits on each card? Depending on that list of cards, there may be one or two in there which can already provide BT offers.

Re: Balance transfer help

Bigtonyp24 — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 03:49:27 GMT

I don't know if chase slate would give her a high sl her high balance is on the chase southwest. Also what about Amex everyday. She has an Amex true earnings card for over 2 years always pays in full. What ccc would give the highest amount?

Re: Balance transfer help

Bigtonyp24 — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 04:02:07 GMT

She has 5k bofa cash rewards, tj max MasterCard 7k, gap visa 7k, Amex true earnings 5k, target visa 7k, 12k southwest that is maxed and about 10 other cards a mix of store cards and store visa and master cards

Re: Balance transfer help

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 04:07:22 GMT

short term:

Discover offer 0% for a year with 3% transfer fee

Long Tern

Balcaycard Ring at 8% interest and 0% transfer fee.

These 2 worked for me. I'm sure there are others.

Re: Balance transfer help

NRB525 — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 04:09:57 GMT

@Bigtonyp24 wrote:
She has 5k bofa cash rewards, tj max MasterCard 7k, gap visa 7k, Amex true earnings 5k, target visa 7k, 12k southwest that is maxed and about 10 other cards a mix of store cards and store visa and master cards

Alright, so not $70k of available credit. Store cards do not count, no way

I see about $22k of real VISA/MC/AMEX credit cards.

And Slate is right out, don't bother with that, because she won't be able to transfer from Chase SW Airlines to Chase Slate. Cannot do a BT within the same bank.

If she goes to the Citi website, and uses the Prequalification tool there, to look for a Citi Credit card with balance transfer features, does she get any offers with something like the Simplicity, with a specific APR and not a range of APR? If so, if it's one APR listed, that prequalification tool is pretty solid, would likely result in a good app. If it's just a range, not so certain.

How about Capital One Quicksilver? Any prequalifications on Capital One?

If she can get one BT card from either Citi or Capital One, then that can take on some of the $12k. She should be getting BT offers already from BofA on the Cash Rewards card, right? So that is an option for some portion of the balance.

Ultimately, though, even with BT to lower rates, she's got to commit to cutting spending to put that money toward paying down this balance, because the high interest may be quiet for a while, but it's going to come back and start costing money again.

Re: Balance transfer help

Bigtonyp24 — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 04:19:31 GMT

So Amex everyday is out?

Re: Balance transfer help

NRB525 — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 04:40:05 GMT

No, I just have very little familiarity with BT to AMEX. I tried to do one a few days ago to my EDP, and could not find the links.

If you get a good limit with AMEX ED, it's as good a destination as any other.

Re: Balance transfer help

Bigtonyp24 — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 04:51:14 GMT

I Really appreciate your help I think she wants to apply for the Amex everyday and depending on that we will see if she needs to apply for another card. If anyone has input on average starting limits I'd greatly appreciate it for a bt card

Re: Balance transfer help

Bigtonyp24 — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 16:13:05 GMT

I will keep you guys posted on the outcome I'm keeping my fingers crossed she gets approved for a decent limit!!!

Re: Balance transfer help

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 22:22:10 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
@Bigtonyp24 wrote:
My fiancé has a credit with very high balance. It's her only card she has with a balance. It's 12k what card should she get for a transfer and who would be generous with limit. She has around 700 score. She has roughly 70k in open credit
With $70k already in open credit cards, (those are credit cards, right?) Which credit cards does she have and what are the limits on each card? Depending on that list of cards, there may be one or two in there which can already provide BT offers.

Re: Balance transfer help

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 00:29:50 GMT

@Bigtonyp24 wrote:
I Really appreciate your help I think she wants to apply for the Amex everyday and depending on that we will see if she needs to apply for another card. If anyone has input on average starting limits I'd greatly appreciate it for a bt card

I think she would be better off with a no frills BT credit card like Citibank Simplicity or Barclay Ring. NRB gave you some really good advice, but it reads like she (you) had your heart set on applying for the Amex ED regardless of the advice given here. Right now, Simplicity has the BEST introductory offer for BTs at 21 months.

Like NRB said I hope she's committed to paying down/off her balance and that 12 months is enough time for her to do it. Also, from my understanding in order to benefit from the Amex ED there's a specific number of swipes needed each month. Personally, I would never use a rewards card for a BT. Good luck!

Re: Balance transfer help

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 23:24:45 GMT

@beautifulblaquepearl wrote:
@Bigtonyp24 wrote:
I Really appreciate your help I think she wants to apply for the Amex everyday and depending on that we will see if she needs to apply for another card. If anyone has input on average starting limits I'd greatly appreciate it for a bt card
I think she would be better off with a no frills BT credit card like Citibank Simplicity or Barclay Ring. NRB gave you some really good advice, but it reads like she (you) had your heart set on applying for the Amex ED regardless of the advice given here. Right now, Simplicity has the BEST introductory offer for BTs at 21 months.

Like NRB said I hope she's committed to paying down/off her balance and that 12 months is enought time for her to do it. Also, from my understanding in order to benefit from the Amex ED there's a specific number of swipes needed each month. Personally, I would never use a rewards card for a BT. Good luck!

The ED could be good, although if you do reading you'll see some people say that AmEx doesn't want you to use the BT offer they give you. I've not used one, so no experience with that. AFA not using a rewards card for a BT, that's true that for many it's a pain and cost and or labor prohibitive because if you want to use the card you need to keep track of new charges and pay them plus enough minimum to make sure that you don't end up paying interest on new purchases. But the AmEx offers are generally 0% on purchases AND BT. I believe that Discover, it does not. Discover could be another good option and good card to have, but you'd need to either not use the card or put in the effort to pay new charges.

The ED doesn't NEED a specific number of swipes per month, that's what just makes it most advantageous reward-wise. There was a really sweet bonus offer for the ED recently, don't know if it's still around. I'd poke around if you're interested. Would need to check in incognito mode if the computer you're on has been used to log into AmEx. And/or change browsers, use a different device, etc.

With AmEx, since she's already got a $5k limit on her TE, she could transfer some over if she wasn't happy with her new limit. I have had a TE for several years. It grew naturally from $1200 to $4200, I think. I opened a BCP in March. It was opened at $5k (what most of my limits were around at the time) and I got 3x CLI when I got the card, so it's at $15k. I decided with the good MR offers around to switch to MR from cash back, and applied for a EDP (downgraded the BCP to BCE). I was only approved for $2k. Not very useable for the card that I planned to use as an everyday card. I was told I could ask for a 3x CLI, but I knew that wasn't the case because I was within 181 days of last increase. I was told I could transfer limit, but only after back and forth with several on chat and phone did I get it. The donor card must be 13 statements old, so I had to take what I could from my TE and leave my BCP alone. I successfully moved $3k from TE to EDP and then when eligible went for 3x and its now at $15k. They may say there's a 60 day wait to transfer limits to a new card but they don't necessarily enforce that. The 13 statement rule they DO though and it's firm due to the CARD act, I believe.

B of A also has some BT card, no personal experience and their prequal isn't worth anything. If you want a pretty solid prequal and a potentially decent limit and are willing to take a triple pull, I'd go Cap One (QS? as mentioned above). If you're not wanting to do triple pull, then you could go with Citi and get probably single pull maybe double, but also can ask for a HP to increase the limit (so potentially double pull to get something useable). Or, B of A, Disco or Amex. It really depends on if you're trying to minimize the pulls, or if you're trying to get a card that you'll want down the line.

Re: Balance transfer help

Bigtonyp24 — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 23:59:49 GMT

Wow thank you for this input I really appreciate it. I spoke to her she said that she just feels she would rather go with a card that she has history with and so she is going to apply for the Amex everyday she will Def have it paid down in 12 months she just wants to have something with zero interest to get ride of the balance on southwest. Hopefully she gets a high enough limit. Do you guys think she has a chance at a decent limit? Or would she be better applying for the bce just because once the card is paid off she would get more benefit from the bce than the Amex everyday. Which has a chance at a better starting limit. She won't go citibank she does not like them. Bad family experience with them. She has a b of a card and she will not put a balance on that card she pays that in full like clock work and it's her oldest card so she doesn't want to have a balance on that card at all.

Re: Balance transfer help

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 00:37:25 GMT

I think ED and BCE are equal AFA SL, criteria etc. But that's based on nothing but my own opinion. On the one hand, I'd say go for the BCE if that's what she'd be happier with afterwards (if they advertise the same 0% BT terms). On the other hand, I am sort of kicking myself for downgrading my BCP to BCE because no one knows what will happen with the TE come April when AmEx and Costco part ways. The most likely candidate for PC is BCE. I don't know what they'll do for those of us who already have a BCE, but I'll do whatever it takes to get my 1987 backdated amex card to continue (and hope to get two out of the deal...one with citi and one with amex).

Also, if she doesn't have an aversion to BofA, just like she can have two cards with Amex, she can have two with BofA. In fact I've heard of many people having duplicates of the same specific card type with Bof A more than any other lender/card.

Re: Balance transfer help

NRB525 — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 00:37:59 GMT

@Bigtonyp24 wrote:
Wow thank you for this input I really appreciate it. I spoke to her she said that she just feels she would rather go with a card that she has history with and so she is going to apply for the Amex everyday she will Def have it paid down in 12 months she just wants to have something with zero interest to get ride of the balance on southwest. Hopefully she gets a high enough limit. Do you guys think she has a chance at a decent limit? Or would she be better applying for the bce just because once the card is paid off she would get more benefit from the bce than the Amex everyday. Which has a chance at a better starting limit. She won't go citibank she does not like them. Bad family experience with them. She has a b of a card and she will not put a balance on that card she pays that in full like clock work and it's her oldest card so she doesn't want to have a balance on that card at all.

I don't think the limit is going to be any different, whether the BCE or ED, so pick-em.

That's nice that she doesn't like Citi, no need to go to them... they will be coming to her with a new card in April 2016 as Costco changes over from AMEX to Citi

But seriously, the Simplicity is a viable option. And she can get good feedback about apping prospects in general by just running the Citi prequalification tool. If it comes back with a single APR, and the lowest APR, that's a really good sign. Not sure it's going to happen with the maxed out card already, but that feedback from Citi is going to be more relevant than our amateur prognostication.

And still consider the BofA card as a transfer destination. I have BT on both my oldest BofA cards, at 0% rate, and it seems really easy to use them for some new charges, and to pay those charges without upsetting the BT 0% rate, avoiding interest on the new charges.

Re: Balance transfer help

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 00:44:55 GMT

@Bigtonyp24 wrote:
Wow thank you for this input I really appreciate it. I spoke to her she said that she just feels she would rather go with a card that she has history with and so she is going to apply for the Amex everyday she will Def have it paid down in 12 months she just wants to have something with zero interest to get ride of the balance on southwest. Hopefully she gets a high enough limit. Do you guys think she has a chance at a decent limit? Or would she be better applying for the bce just because once the card is paid off she would get more benefit from the bce than the Amex everyday. Which has a chance at a better starting limit. She won't go citibank she does not like them. Bad family experience with them. She has a b of a card and she will not put a balance on that card she pays that in full like clock work and it's her oldest card so she doesn't want to have a balance on that card at all.

From my undertsanding the BCE is a higher tier card than the ED so it has higher criteria for approval. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will chime in. Can you provide specific details about her credit profile? How close to 700 are her credit scores? Does she have any baddies on her credit report? What is her current utilization? Right now, we know she's at 90%+ utilization on her SW Airlines credit card. What other debt is she carrying? Has she been paying only the minimum due on her SW credit card?

Re: Balance transfer help

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 00:42:52 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
@Bigtonyp24 wrote:
Wow thank you for this input I really appreciate it. I spoke to her she said that she just feels she would rather go with a card that she has history with and so she is going to apply for the Amex everyday she will Def have it paid down in 12 months she just wants to have something with zero interest to get ride of the balance on southwest. Hopefully she gets a high enough limit. Do you guys think she has a chance at a decent limit? Or would she be better applying for the bce just because once the card is paid off she would get more benefit from the bce than the Amex everyday. Which has a chance at a better starting limit. She won't go citibank she does not like them. Bad family experience with them. She has a b of a card and she will not put a balance on that card she pays that in full like clock work and it's her oldest card so she doesn't want to have a balance on that card at all.
I don't think the limit is going to be any different, whether the BCE or ED, so pick-em.
That's nice that she doesn't like Citi, no need to go to them... they will be coming to her with a new card in April 2016 as Costco changes over from AMEX to Citi

But seriously, the Simplicity is a viable option. And she can get good feedback about apping prospects in general by just running the Citi prequalification tool. If it comes back with a single APR, and the lowest APR, that's a really good sign. Not sure it's going to happen with the maxed out card already, but that feedback from Citi is going to be more relevant than our amateur prognostication.

And still consider the BofA card as a transfer destination. I have BT on both my oldest BofA cards, at 0% rate, and it seems really easy to use them for some new charges, and to pay those charges without upsetting the BT 0% rate, avoiding interest on the new charges.

The BoA BBR is definitely a good option. Right now, they are offering BTs into 2017. She can earn rewards while PIF her BT.

Re: Balance transfer help

Bigtonyp24 — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 03:48:16 GMT

Her score is a 690. And the southwest card is the only card with a balance so her utlilzation is under 25 percent