topic Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage in Credit Cards

Using balance transfers to increase usage

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 01:21:39 GMT

I'm sure many of you get to a point where you have so many cards you cant really use them as much as the card issuers might like. I was wondering if anyone else uses balance transfers to double usage. For instance, instead of just paying the balance on my Discover card. I transfer the entire balance to a Capital One card, and then pay the entire thing. I hope this will lead to larger CLI in the future. Does this make sense?

Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage

blondy250 — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 02:09:20 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm sure many of you get to a point where you have so many cards you cant really use them as much as the card issuers might like. I was wondering if anyone else uses balance transfers to double usage. For instance, instead of just paying the balance on my Discover card. I transfer the entire balance to a Capital One card, and then pay the entire thing. I hope this will lead to larger CLI in the future. Does this make sense?

Balance transfers have fees, usually 2 to 3 percent, making that a poor way to show usage. It is easier to use a card every few months (3-6 months for me) for a small purchase.

Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage

steelers1 — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 12:37:43 GMT

Don't do a BT just to show usage.

Pay a bill i.e cable, cell phone, insurance etc. to show usage if you don't want to purchase anything.

Put one bill on each card then rotate them.

You have to pay those bills anyways and you might as well earn some rewards while your at it.

Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 12:48:27 GMT

I don't pay any fees when I do BT with Capital One. I just pay the normal purchase APR, which doesnt matter since I pay the amount off prior to the billing cycle closing.

So, in effect I pay nothing extra, and double my usage. This way I don't run the risk of getting CLD for not using some of my cards enough.

I figured it would be a common practice, but I guess not. I already already pay everything with my credit cards. There are no additonal transactions I could possibly charge, other than just buying stuff and returning it. I purchase items with my Barclay and Discover cards, then just transfer the balance to Capital One.

Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage

txtjjs — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 14:22:13 GMT

Usually BTs are treated like a cash advance in that they start accruing interest from day 1. Regular putchases usually have a grace period. If it's a 0% promo with no fee, it may work, but I would be cautious about interest kicking in. Just something to consider. Have a great weekend!

Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 14:38:43 GMT

I didn't know you could have a card that doesn't charge BT fees outside of an intro period deal.

Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage

UncleB — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 15:29:04 GMT

This might vary from person to person, but I do have a couple of data points to provide.

With Capital One, in my own case they didn't count BTs as usage... I have two Capital One cards that previously were on the same CLI 'schedule'. I had a large BT on my QS MasterCard but very few swipes, and on my QS Visa I had total usage that was less than the BT on the other card. When it came time for a CLI I was granted $1k on the Visa, but for the MC I got the following message:

So the BT didn't help at all.

I think it might have been different with my Discover card, but I can't be sure because at the same time I PIF a large-ish BT I also had a 'bump' in my TU, so there's no clear comparison like there is with Capital One, where for me there's no doubt.

Hope this helps.

Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage

thummel — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 16:56:59 GMT

It's a lot easier to just use the card every so often for something small then to do a balance transfer. Otherwise why have the card at all?

Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 16:59:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I don't pay any fees when I do BT with Capital One. I just pay the normal purchase APR, which doesnt matter since I pay the amount off prior to the billing cycle closing.
So, in effect I pay nothing extra, and double my usage. This way I don't run the risk of getting CLD for not using some of my cards enough.

I figured it would be a common practice, but I guess not. I already already pay everything with my credit cards. There are no additonal transactions I could possibly charge, other than just buying stuff and returning it. I purchase items with my Barclay and Discover cards, then just transfer the balance to Capital One.

Is it really that hard to just swipe your Cap1 card instead of the Discover or Barclay's from time to time? Unless you are only using each card for one swipe every 6 months, you could add a swipe or two to Cap1. If they are getting no BT fees and no interest, I doubt they are going to reward this behavior.

Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 17:14:56 GMT

@UncleB wrote:
This might vary from person to person, but I do have a couple of data points to provide.

With Capital One, in my own case they didn't count BTs as usage... I have two Capital One cards that previously were on the same CLI 'schedule'. I had a large BT on my QS MasterCard but very few swipes, and on my QS Visa I had total usage that was less than the BT on the other card. When it came time for a CLI I was granted $1k on the Visa, but for the MC I got the following message:

So the BT didn't help at all.

I think it might have been different with my Discover card, but I can't be sure because at the same time I PIF a large-ish BT I also had a 'bump' in my TU, so there's no clear comparison like there is with Capital One, where for me there's no doubt.

Hope this helps.

I just got this on my Quicksilver today - didn't realize I haven't used it (and needed to make a payment) since July. Time to make the quarterly pencil purchase!

Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 21:57:12 GMT

I have done that with CapOne since they don't ever charge a fee on the regular purchase APR deal they have ....but it isn't a practice I would recommend to do on a regular basis. I think if you do it once in a while it's nbd... but don't do it monthly.

Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage

NRB525 — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 20:12:47 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I don't pay any fees when I do BT with Capital One. I just pay the normal purchase APR, which doesnt matter since I pay the amount off prior to the billing cycle closing.
So, in effect I pay nothing extra, and double my usage. This way I don't run the risk of getting CLD for not using some of my cards enough.

I figured it would be a common practice, but I guess not. I already already pay everything with my credit cards. There are no additonal transactions I could possibly charge, other than just buying stuff and returning it. I purchase items with my Barclay and Discover cards, then just transfer the balance to Capital One.

Well, I consider it a common practice. I routinely transfer $400 to each of my QS or Venture cards. No BT Fee, no interest is charged at all the first month. Auto pay of just over 200 takes it down a bit on the second statement, so a small interest charge shows up on that statement. The next month, autopay pays off the balance, and since the third statement is at zero, no interest is charged on that third month either. Three months of "activity" and a small amount of interest on month 2.

You could let the BT amount show on the first month statement, then just pay that before the following due date to get no interest cost.

UncleB is correct, this is unlikely to earn you a CLI, but that is more a general ceiling issue where Cap One does not raise credit limits after each card is at its maximum. If you want a bigger limit, app a new Cap One card. That Reason Code is useless information.

Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage

Marcos8 — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 02:08:43 GMT

I believe NRB was the one I learned about the Cap 1 no fee transfer from. I've used this feature to consolidate balances from multiple cards and then move it somewhere else at 0% before the interest hit.

Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 09:07:01 GMT

It will create a data point of the highest balance that specific account has ever been but other than that incurring fees just make to look like you used cards heavily is foolish. It probably won't help a credit limit increase on that account but look better to outsiders in the future. Again that will be the future if your scores arent good it won't matter what's been spent through them

Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 15:49:41 GMT

OP, it works! believe me I have done it and has got CLIs twice(6 months apart) just by doing balance transfers all the time!

I have QS1 card ( pretty old one), that does not charge any fee for BT. As I use other cards for purchase, I never intend to use QS1.

Hence just to see what happens if I do BT on QS1 to other cards and pay QS1 in full before statement cuts, I did BTs for few months, and I got CLI of 2,500 and 2,050.

So it works! try for few months PIF before statement cuts and you will see CLI!! Experimenting with Capone doesn't hurt!!

Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage

FroggieMom — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 00:21:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@UncleB wrote:
This might vary from person to person, but I do have a couple of data points to provide.

With Capital One, in my own case they didn't count BTs as usage... I have two Capital One cards that previously were on the same CLI 'schedule'. I had a large BT on my QS MasterCard but very few swipes, and on my QS Visa I had total usage that was less than the BT on the other card. When it came time for a CLI I was granted $1k on the Visa, but for the MC I got the following message:

So the BT didn't help at all.

I think it might have been different with my Discover card, but I can't be sure because at the same time I PIF a large-ish BT I also had a 'bump' in my TU, so there's no clear comparison like there is with Capital One, where for me there's no doubt.

Hope this helps.
I just got this on my Quicksilver today - didn't realize I haven't used it (and needed to make a payment) since July. Time to make the quarterly pencil purchase!

Pffftttt! I WISH a quarterly pencil purchase would be enough to get Cap 1 off their duff and stop giving me the same excuse as UncleB! I have been using my Cap 1 Plat as my daily driver for an entire quarter now and although I'm not racking up $1000's of dollars in charges, I'm definitely charging more than a pencil! STILL nothing and get the same "excuse". I call it that now because literally...that's ALL IT CAN BE at this point! I'm convinced (as others have posted in the past) that specific cards are pigeon holed with them and once you hit their imaginary ceiling with limit, you will never get another penny.

Re: Using balance transfers to increase usage

UncleB — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 00:34:55 GMT

@FroggieMom wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@UncleB wrote:
This might vary from person to person, but I do have a couple of data points to provide.

With Capital One, in my own case they didn't count BTs as usage... I have two Capital One cards that previously were on the same CLI 'schedule'. I had a large BT on my QS MasterCard but very few swipes, and on my QS Visa I had total usage that was less than the BT on the other card. When it came time for a CLI I was granted $1k on the Visa, but for the MC I got the following message:

So the BT didn't help at all.

I think it might have been different with my Discover card, but I can't be sure because at the same time I PIF a large-ish BT I also had a 'bump' in my TU, so there's no clear comparison like there is with Capital One, where for me there's no doubt.

Hope this helps.
I just got this on my Quicksilver today - didn't realize I haven't used it (and needed to make a payment) since July. Time to make the quarterly pencil purchase!
Pffftttt! I WISH a quarterly pencil purchase would be enough to get Cap 1 off their duff and stop giving me the same excuse as UncleB! I have been using my Cap 1 Plat as my daily driver for an entire quarter now and although I'm not racking up $1000's of dollars in charges, I'm definitely charging more than a pencil! STILL nothing and get the same "excuse". I call it that now because literally...that's ALL IT CAN BE at this point! I'm convinced (as others have posted in the past) that specific cards are pigeon holed with them and once you hit their imaginary ceiling with limit, you will never get another penny.

Don't give up completely!

I last got this message back in June on my QS MC (that's when I figured out that the BT didn't 'count' as usage, since with the BT my MC activity was actually greater than my Visa, which did get a CLI).

I had decided that "it is what it is" and only used the card occasionally. Then just a couple of months ago for 'grins' (and with only trivial usage) I tried again, and this time i got an instant $1k increase (making the new credit line $4.9k).

I do think in many cases usage helps, but some times their computer has a "mind of it's own". The good news is that their QS cards are no-AF, so if one ever stops growing you can SD it for a while rather than close it (then try again later). There's also the combination option (for those who have it available) but as this is my oldest bank card I don't want to go that route.

Hang in there!