topic General Balance Transfer Question in Credit Cards

General Balance Transfer Question

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 01:52:56 GMT

This may be an odd question. But ive never done a BT before and have been pondering for a month or so about doing one from my Wal-Mart card to my new discover 0% APR card. Reason I haven't already is because i know banks make their money on interest and i know how weird Synchrony bank can be at times .I figured they may not take too kindly to me letting discover steal their interest payments away from them. I'm sure they know its a balance transfer.

Am I over thinking it? Or do some companies not take kindly to balance transfers? Even aside from synchrony id like to know in general .Maybe they give me a CLD after as punishment or close account? Idk. Maybe I'm over thinking it .Please advise if you have any experience in this. Thank you MyFicoers

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

Aahz — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 01:58:42 GMT

Yes, you're overthinking it.

Besides, Synchrony already got swipe fees from when you ran up the debt, may already be receiving interest on your current balance, and will get more swipe fees (and possibly more interest) once your card is paid off and you start charging on it again.

BTs are commonplace and banks don't really care how you pay off your cards, as long as you do.

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

Gmood1 — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 02:00:42 GMT

Yup you're over thinking it. I've BT'd from Synch several times. All they care about is getting their money. Doesn't really matter how they get it. As long as it is legit. lol

I give them Navy Fed's money every chance I get. ;-)

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 02:13:19 GMT

Lol. Well thanks to both of you then .Also forgot to mention that one reason I was over thinking it was because on the Wal-Mart card I had pulled out a little bit of cash with it (cash back at register). And wasnt sure if they'd be mad that I got a cash advance and paid it back with a balance transfer. Essentially that's a way to get your full credit line (almost; you have to make a small purchase for cash back) in cash by pulling out your cash limit (which is typically a percentage of your actual credit line,) balance transferring your balance, and pulling out cash again. Hmm .Wonder how many red flags that would throw up. Not interested in the answer lol but this was my thought process behind being nervous about transferring my balance .

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

Gmood1 — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 02:18:19 GMT

LOL..yeah you can relax. Another way to take a cash advance without actually being charged for it. Is to fund a new bank account with it.

Not all CUs and banks do it, though I've found several that do. ;-)

Also good for meeting a spend bonus every now and then.

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 02:29:26 GMT

Ok thanks .Although I think just for my peace of mind I'm gonna BT my whole balance less the amount of cash that is unavailable to me currently (amount of cash I took out and havent paid back yet). But thanks for all the info .I read about how funny they can be with their blue envelopes and didnt want to get one any time soon .Although I think I will close out the card by the end of the year as I have cards with better rewards now and see no need for it anymore .

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

UncleB — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 10:00:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Lol. Well thanks to both of you then .Also forgot to mention that one reason I was over thinking it was because on the Wal-Mart card I had pulled out a little bit of cash with it (cash back at register). And wasnt sure if they'd be mad that I got a cash advance and paid it back with a balance transfer. Essentially that's a way to get your full credit line (almost; you have to make a small purchase for cash back) in cash by pulling out your cash limit (which is typically a percentage of your actual credit line,) balance transferring your balance, and pulling out cash again. Hmm .Wonder how many red flags that would throw up. Not interested in the answer lol but this was my thought process behind being nervous about transferring my balance .

You can relax, @Anonymous. Just FYI... to Synchrony it's just another ACH or check payment - they make no 'notation' of it being a balance transfer (i.e. there are no 'red flags').

Some will point out that it's technically possible for an analyst to manually comb over your reports and look at another account's balance increasing at the same time your Synchrony balance is PIF, but IMO it's a stretch in most cases to expect that to happen. In a nut shell, Synchrony just wants to get paid.

FWIW, my own BTs from Synchrony to other banks have all been no-drama.

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

AverageJoesCredit — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 12:08:49 GMT

Lol, i bt'd all my Sync balances away to my Boa card and keep my Sync cards as pif im now gonna bt some away to Navy to avoid that interest

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

SouthJamaica — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 14:02:29 GMT

wrote:
This may be an odd question. But ive never done a BT before and have been pondering for a month or so about doing one from my Wal-Mart card to my new discover 0% APR card. Reason I haven't already is because i know banks make their money on interest and i know how weird Synchrony bank can be at times .I figured they may not take too kindly to me letting discover steal their interest payments away from them. I'm sure they know its a balance transfer.

Am I over thinking it? Or do some companies not take kindly to balance transfers? Even aside from synchrony id like to know in general .Maybe they give me a CLD after as punishment or close account? Idk. Maybe I'm over thinking it .Please advise if you have any experience in this. Thank you MyFicoers

Yes you're over thinking it. They don't know anything, they just know they got a nice fat payment.

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

BM3 — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 17:11:28 GMT

@Gmood1wrote:
LOL..yeah you can relax. Another way to take a cash advance without actually being charged for it. Is to fund a new bank account with it.
Not all CUs and banks do it, though I've found several that do. ;-)
Also good for meeting a spend bonus every now and then.

Do tell?

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 17:17:47 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
This may be an odd question. But ive never done a BT before and have been pondering for a month or so about doing one from my Wal-Mart card to my new discover 0% APR card. Reason I haven't already is because i know banks make their money on interest and i know how weird Synchrony bank can be at times .I figured they may not take too kindly to me letting discover steal their interest payments away from them. I'm sure they know its a balance transfer.

Am I over thinking it? Or do some companies not take kindly to balance transfers? Even aside from synchrony id like to know in general .Maybe they give me a CLD after as punishment or close account? Idk. Maybe I'm over thinking it .Please advise if you have any experience in this. Thank you MyFicoers

Like others have said, they already have been paid with the swipe fees, interest, etc. They would probably like to be paid in full at some point, regardless of where it is from, because now that is pure profit for them with the balance paid. +1 for them

Balance transfers are extremely common and, if you time them right, you can BT a large purchase/balance strategically to avoid interest/fees for a very long time. Some cards charge a one-time % to transfer it but others have promos when they waive it. If you are not PIF, always take advantage of BT's to same yourself some money. You could even calculate the interest you would have paid and apply it as an extra payment each month (or every few months). Great way to get that balance down faster on a 0% card.

You mentioned some of it was a cash advance. Those are traditionally charged at a much higher interest rate which is why it's even more important to BT that balance off of that. You are also able to BT directly into a checking account with some lenders, which would technically be considered a cash advance but avoids those fees/interest.

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

BM3 — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 17:22:34 GMT

Couple questions from this newbie:

I see some BT are 3%, which is a big chunk. Are those 0% offers pretty standard or are they hard to find?

There was a post by someone getting a 32k limit on a United Chase card. The reply was "card is kind of useless, but you can transfer that limit". I don't get that last part, as I think OP just applied for the card and had no limit. What did the poster imply?

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

AverageJoesCredit — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 17:22:41 GMT

Guys so as not to open another thread, and sorry Roy21 for hijacking though it is related to bt.

When you bt away from a bank, they get paid by the other party. My question is that considered a payment or should i also make a payment for my upcoming due date. I reference bting away from BOA to Navy . Thank you.

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

BM3 — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 17:26:32 GMT

Not answering that, but also curious about one trick I used to know about 7 years ago - you could buy something with a card, then cancel it (get a chargeback) and that counted as a payment. That was a nifty little trick, does it still work?

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 17:54:16 GMT

@BM3wrote:
Couple questions from this newbie:

I see some BT are 3%, which is a big chunk. Are those 0% offers pretty standard or are they hard to find?

There was a post by someone getting a 32k limit on a United Chase card. The reply was "card is kind of useless, but you can transfer that limit". I don't get that last part, as I think OP just applied for the card and had no limit. What did the poster imply?

There are a few cards that offer 0% transfer promos. You can do a quick search online under "BT cards". This does open a new account, so plan accordingly if it is worth it. The other cards that do 3-5% fee is a one time charge. Calculate how long it will take you to pay that balance, multiply that by the interest you are charged each month and compare that to the fee of the balance transfer. Depending on your interest rate, you will likely find a nice amount of savings while you pay that balance off.

I could be wrong, but they were referring to taking advantage of the BT offer only for that card (as it does not have many other benefits) then transferring that credit line over to another Chase product once they are done taking advantage of the BT offer. Although this is a lot of work, you could save a lot of money on the fee(s)/interest - could be similar to a hefty sign-up bonus and then some. All of these require you to do some math and calculate it yourself because YRMV.

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 17:56:51 GMT

@AverageJoesCreditwrote:
Guys so as not to open another thread, and sorry Roy21 for hijacking though it is related to bt.

When you bt away from a bank, they get paid by the other party. My question is that considered a payment or should i also make a payment for my upcoming due date. I reference bting away from BOA to Navy . Thank you.

In my experience, although it has been a few years, the BT is a payment made by the creditor to your account and would be considered one. There can often be delays in processing so I would plan to make your regular payment and then subtract that from your requested amount (assuming its a PIF transfer). It is always better to pay more and request a refund then to be late/under.

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

AverageJoesCredit — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 22:41:13 GMT

Thanks CreditCustomer. Im gonna make my payment anyway. If anything, ill be $100 less to pay on next promo

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 05:25:53 GMT

@ AJC when I did my BT last week my minimum payment was $91. Well I rounded it up a little .And BT everything except for that minimum payment and then some .I did this because as stated even while doing the BT. Most creditors tell you the BT can take 7-10 days and to continue making regular scheduled payments to not incur late fees etc. Mine only took 4 or 5 days so I would have been ok but rather be safe than sorry .

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

redE2move — Sat, 03 Mar 2018 12:49:38 GMT

Just went through this myself. I was hoping the BT payment (which I requested on the 22nd) would hit my card before the payment was due but it didn't. I ended up making the minimum payment as well. This is my second BT and what I noticed this time around was that my BT was issued by check (requested on the 22nd, check disbursed on the 28th and payment hasn't hit account yet so I'm on my 10th day if you count weekend days) . The 1st BT payment was done electronically (requested on the 18th, ELECTRONICALLY disbursed the following day and payment hit account the following day taking 3 days total to process). So now I have this theory ELECTRONIC vs PAPER CHECK. Maybe the method of payment on the BT is decided based on the amount of the BT. The 2nd BT was $2000 while the 1st, only $500.

Re: General Balance Transfer Question

UpperNwGuy — Sat, 03 Mar 2018 13:17:23 GMT

@BM3wrote:
Couple questions from this newbie:

I see some BT are 3%, which is a big chunk. Are those 0% offers pretty standard or are they hard to find?

There was a post by someone getting a 32k limit on a United Chase card. The reply was "card is kind of useless, but you can transfer that limit". I don't get that last part, as I think OP just applied for the card and had no limit. What did the poster imply?

A one-time balance transfer fee is not the same thing as the APR on the transferred balance. You can easily find balance transfer offers for 0% APR, but most of those have a 3% upfront transfer fee. A few don't charge a fee. Those are the good ones.

Transferring a balance is a different concept than transferring a credit limit. When you transfer a balance, it is between banks. When you transfer a credit limit, it is between two cards issued by the same bank.