topic Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer in Credit Cards

Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

Jerry45 — Thu, 02 Nov 2017 15:39:53 GMT

I just received a offer for 18 months 0% for balance transfers on my Quicksilver. I have about $3500 in debt between 3 cards, and was wondering if any have used this offer. My CL is 11k. The 3% fee is a drag, but it beats opening up a new balance card. Thanks

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

HeavenOhio — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 02:14:27 GMT

I've never used an offer for a BT. But I'd think it'd be pretty straightforward. If your interest charges are going to exceed $105, do the transfer. Your utilization on the card would be a little over the "responsible" level (32% vs. 28.9%). But you could decide that's OK and that your score could absorb the temporary ding. Or you could transfer $3,170 and stay under 28.9% if you'd like.

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

B335is — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 02:46:23 GMT

I've never had an issue with Cap1 regarding balance transfers. I think the most I've done is $7,000 transfer on a $20,000 limit card and paid it off in about 10 months....limit remained intact, no complaints.

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

HeavenOhio — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 02:59:31 GMT

Cap1 will be fine if you decide to use 32% of your limit. It's up to you to decide if the short-term scoring ding matters.

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

Jerry45 — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 20:49:10 GMT

@HeavenOhio wrote:
I've never used an offer for a BT. But I'd think it'd be pretty straightforward. If your interest charges are going to exceed $105, do the transfer. Your utilization on the card would be a little over the "responsible" level (32% vs. 28.9%). But you could decide that's OK and that your score could absorb the temporary ding. Or you could transfer $3,170 and stay under 28.9% if you'd like.

Thanks Heaven. Nice info

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

Jerry45 — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 20:50:31 GMT

@B335is wrote:
I've never had an issue with Cap1 regarding balance transfers. I think the most I've done is $7,000 transfer on a $20,000 limit card and paid it off in about 10 months....limit remained intact, no complaints.

Thanks B33. appreciate the numbers. You were around 35% UTIL at the onset. Good to hear

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

marty56 — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 21:01:37 GMT

Many people (me included) have gotten in trouble with BTs in the past so be careful. Also watch to pay the BT fee and pay as much as you can to make sure it is PIF well before the term date. Make sure they don't want you to close the other accounts.

IMHO BT is not a good idea.

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 21:59:11 GMT

Did you get in trouble because you failed to make payments and ran up balances again on other accounts or did you get in trouble with the bank just for making a BT?

Responsible use of BT can reduce interest payments by thousands of dollars.

Irresponsible use of BT is just irresponsible use of credit.

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

Adkins — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 22:09:01 GMT

Responsible use of BT can reduce interest payments by thousands of dollars.

Irresponsible use of BT is just irresponsible use of credit.

Wise words.

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

marty56 — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 21:03:19 GMT

@Adkins wrote:
Responsible use of BT can reduce interest payments by thousands of dollars.
Irresponsible use of BT is just irresponsible use of credit.
Wise words.

So anyone who has had CC use/debt issues was irresponsible? Many times a person the best intentions of stoping the CC debt cycle only to fall off the wagon, either by choice or circumstance. I have seen more posts in this forum about the problems moving debt around rather than I did a BT to clean up my CC debt it never happened again. Does anyone here really then CCCs using 0% BT transfers/checks is a loosing game for those companies?

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

Jerry45 — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 16:28:33 GMT

Bottom line, is that I was planning to apply for a New BT card. Thankfully Cap one offers me 18 months 0%. This way I do not have to open a new account, and get 1 1/2 to pay off my debt (medical).

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

Jerry45 — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 16:30:16 GMT

@marty56 wrote:
Many people (me included) have gotten in trouble with BTs in the past so be careful. Also watch to pay the BT fee and pay as much as you can to make sure it is PIF well before the term date. Make sure they don't want you to colose the other accounts.

IMHO BT is not a good idea.

Marty, you make a good point. Is the BT Fee part of the 0% with Cap one also?

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

Adkins — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 17:44:28 GMT

@marty56 wrote:
@Adkins wrote:
Responsible use of BT can reduce interest payments by thousands of dollars.
Irresponsible use of BT is just irresponsible use of credit.
Wise words.
So everyone who has had CC use/debt issues are irresponsible? Many times a person the best intentions of stoping the CC debt cycle only to fall off the wagon, either by choice or circumstance. I have seen more posts in this forum about the problems moving debt around rather than I did a BT to clean up my CC debt it never happened again. Does anyone here really then CCCs using 0% BT transfers/checks is a loosing game for those companies? Telling someone it is ok to BT when we can see many examples here of probelms that people have had and not knowing the person's situation is being irresponsible.

For those here, like me, whose past credit issues where all their fault maybe paying more interest would have kept them from going from bad to worse.

I'm genuinely puzzled by your response. I wasn't remarking about anything else in this post, only those exact words that I qouted - which is why I only pulled them out of the previous post and included nothing else from previous posts in this thread. I liked the words, and I wanted a way to let the person know who typed them.

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

hsspres — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 09:11:36 GMT

@Jerry45 wrote:
@marty56 wrote:
Many people (me included) have gotten in trouble with BTs in the past so be careful. Also watch to pay the BT fee and pay as much as you can to make sure it is PIF well before the term date. Make sure they don't want you to colose the other accounts.

IMHO BT is not a good idea.
Marty, you make a good point. Is the BT Fee part of the 0% with Cap one also?

Yes, the fee is included in the 0% with Cap One (and all my other cards that I have used for BTs).

If you want to avoid interest, you don't have to pay as much as you can every month, even minimums will do, just be sure to pay the BT off before the expiration date. I use BTs from time to time for larger purchases that I don't feel like paying off in a month, the .25 interest rate (3% avg fee/ 12 month term) that is paid in the fee is far less than the card's APR. A couple 'rules' I use concerning BTs is to have a zero balance when initiating the BT. This is done after statement cut, not when paying off a balance during a monthly cycle, cause if the statement balance isn't zero, the payment you thought was paying off the balance, will end up going towards the BT and you'll continue paying interest on the previous charges. My second 'rule' is not to use the BT card for additional charges until it is paid in full.

Cap 1 does seem to be unique in that they have an "Interest Saver Payment" amount listed on a bill that has a BT. It will state the payment amount needed to avoid interest charges on new charges shown on the next statement, which I would assume would be all the new charges and maybe minimum payment, but since I don't have any additional charges, this amount just matches whatever my minimum payment would be.

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

HeavenOhio — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 11:18:51 GMT

I'd suggest paying "substantially" over the minimum starting early on. Chances of adverse action are too great if you don't do that.

I think I'd approach it by deciding how much time is reasonable for paying off the debt, dividing the total to determine an average monthly payment, and attempting to pay at least that average during most months. A minimum payment should be a rare exeption.

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

Jerry45 — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 20:45:02 GMT

@hsspres wrote:
@Jerry45 wrote:
@marty56 wrote:
Many people (me included) have gotten in trouble with BTs in the past so be careful. Also watch to pay the BT fee and pay as much as you can to make sure it is PIF well before the term date. Make sure they don't want you to colose the other accounts.

IMHO BT is not a good idea.
Marty, you make a good point. Is the BT Fee part of the 0% with Cap one also?
Yes, the fee is included in the 0% with Cap One (and all my other cards that I have used for BTs).

If you want to avoid interest, you don't have to pay as much as you can every month, even minimums will do, just be sure to pay the BT off before the expiration date. I use BTs from time to time for larger purchases that I don't feel like paying off in a month, the .25 interest rate (3% avg fee/ 12 month term) that is paid in the fee is far less than the card's APR. A couple 'rules' I use concerning BTs is to have a zero balance when initiating the BT. This is done after statement cut, not when paying off a balance during a monthly cycle, cause if the statement balance isn't zero, the payment you thought was paying off the balance, will end up going towards the BT and you'll continue paying interest on the previous charges. My second 'rule' is not to use the BT card for additional charges until it is paid in full.

Cap 1 does seem to be unique in that they have an "Interest Saver Payment" amount listed on a bill that has a BT. It will state the payment amount needed to avoid interest charges on new charges shown on the next statement, which I would assume would be all the new charges and maybe minimum payment, but since I don't have any additional charges, this amount just matches whatever my minimum payment would be.

Wow! Great info Hss. Cleared up a lot of things for me. So if I do not make any purchases for say 12 months, while paying down the debt, Cap One will get mad and CLD me? Thanks Again

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

Jerry45 — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 20:46:07 GMT

Double the minimum is good, Heaven?

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

hsspres — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 21:35:41 GMT

@Jerry45 wrote:
So if I do not make any purchases for say 12 months, while paying down the debt, Cap One will get mad and CLD me? Thanks Again

No, Cap One won't CLD you, worse that could probably happen is they wouldn't offer you any more 0% BTs. I've only done 1 with Cap One so I have no data. I've done BTs with Citi and FNBO, and after paying off the 0%, the next offers were for 1.99% and 5.99% respectively. I have done multiple BTs with Barclays and Chase, they continue to offer 0% after previous BTs were paid before expiration.

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

Dalmus — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 16:46:06 GMT

Another nice thing about CapitalOne is that you can also request a check for the BT amount.

I had the same 0%/18month offer on my Venture card. I requested a check for about 40% of my credit limit, and used that to pay off a Prosper loan, which will save me near $1400 in interest by paying the balance off in 18 months at 0% rather than the 30 months remaining at 11.98%.

Re: Cap One Balance Transfer Offer

HeavenOhio — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 17:30:35 GMT

@Jerry45 wrote:
Double the minimum is good, Heaven?

People here tend to suggest two to three times the minimum. Of course, you'll want to be paid in full by the end of the 0% period.

I don't think Capital One is one to get particularly cranky when a BT is involved. They're definitely not like Barclays where cardholders have no clue what's right or wrong.