topic Balance Transfer Card Question in Credit Cards

Balance Transfer Card Question

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 16:11:34 GMT

Hello,

I am really new to all this and I have been learning a lot by lurking on these forms, so I'm not sure if this goes here or in Rebuilding Credit. Please let me know if I need to move this. I am currently trying to clean up my credit score after being an idiot. I want to find a card to do a BT of $3095 from my CapitalOne Card. My hope is to get this amount down to 1k before the 0% APR runs out.

I am waiting until April/May to apply because my credit score will go from a 687 to about a 710 due to me paying off my Chase card in Febuary/March. I don't know what a good card to choose would be or if I should continue to wait or not.

Card I have:
Chase: Limit of $2K current amount on it: $1702 Paid off around the end of Feb/beginning of March
CapitalOne: Limit of $3.3K current amount on it: $3292. Hoping to get down to $3k before BT
CareCredit: Limit of $7.2K current amount on it: $2225 (fixed promo balance won't transfer)
Cabelas/Cap1: Limit $2k Current amount: $0
Kohls/Cap1: Limit 6K Current amount $0

Also I don't know if loans count against me, but I currently have consolidated all my student loans into 1 loan in forbarance right now for: $50.2K

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 17:31:45 GMT

You currently have 2 cards that are maxed out, and they very well could hinder any approvals for a BT card. Not sure what else is on your report such as any baddies etc.

With that being said, I would try the Discover pre-qual. They typically offer 12 to 18 month BT.

Good luck!

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 19:15:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
You currently have 2 cards that are maxed out, and they very well could hinder any approvals for a BT card. Not sure what else is on your report such as any baddies etc.
With that being said, I would try the Discover pre-qual. They typically offer 12 to 18 month BT.
Good luck!

Would you still recommend that if I only had 1 card maxed out? When I apply my Chase is going to be close to or at $0.

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

Remedios — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 19:40:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
You currently have 2 cards that are maxed out, and they very well could hinder any approvals for a BT card. Not sure what else is on your report such as any baddies etc.
With that being said, I would try the Discover pre-qual. They typically offer 12 to 18 month BT.
Good luck!
Would you still recommend that if I only had 1 card maxed out? When I apply my Chase is going to be close to or at $0.

Any maxed out card lowers your chance of approval, or approval with decent SL

It would be the best to bring the balance down as much as you can before the application

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 19:42:12 GMT

No. You need to get both maxed out cards down to under 29%. If you want a favorable review of your application for new account.

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 19:52:48 GMT

Any maxed out card lowers your chance of approval, or approval with decent SL
It would be the best to bring the balance down as much as you can before the application

Okay thank you for clarifying. I was hoping since I was planing to apply after Chase was down to 0 I would have better odds (Care at 30% and Cap at 90%), I could transfer my CapitalOne amount over so I could work on getting that down. But it sounds like from you guys its probably best to wait it out at my 25% APR for a while.

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

Remedios — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 20:41:17 GMT

Are you a member of any local CU?

Sometimes they can be a bit more lenient with their members vs. cc issuers

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

K-in-Boston — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 20:58:55 GMT

While of course the best approval odds are going to be with cards reporting under 29%, having them a bit higher doesn't mean you'd be automatically denied. I'd get the balance down on the two maxed cards somewhat equally. Using rounding like credit scoring algorithms do, your Chase card is at 86% and your CapOne is absolutely maxed at 100%. In the same time period, putting $1000 on Chase and $700 on CapOne would put you at around 36% and 70%; once those new balances reported to the credit bureaus you should see a noticable improvement in your scores, and would certainly look more favorable to new lenders.

Also, do you really have a $6,000 Kohl's card? Did that start with Capital One, or is it an older card originally issued by another lender? I've only seen one card higher than $4,000 here and most people (including wife who has scores in the 800s and has had her card for over 25 years) are stuck at $3,000 receiving letters that say "you already have the maximum credit line that this type of account allows."

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

FinStar — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 21:20:57 GMT

@K-in-Boston, I was just about to mention that. I don't think I've ever seen a Kohl's CC with anything above $4K. Unless the OP meant $600 CL? That's a lot of Kohl's if it's indeed $6K! 😄

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

K-in-Boston — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 21:26:36 GMT

Legal_Girl is the only person I know of with more than $4k and there are only a few of us higher than $3k, when $4k became available during a brief window.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Credit-limit-on-Kohl-s/m-p/4690929#M1360473

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 23:01:18 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
While of course the best approval odds are going to be with cards reporting under 29%, having them a bit higher doesn't mean you'd be automatically denied. I'd get the balance down on the two maxed cards somewhat equally. Using rounding like credit scoring algorithms do, your Chase card is at 86% and your CapOne is absolutely maxed at 100%. In the same time period, putting $1000 on Chase and $700 on CapOne would put you at around 36% and 70%; once those new balances reported to the credit bureaus you should see a noticable improvement in your scores, and would certainly look more favorable to new lenders.

Also, do you really have a $6,000 Kohl's card? Did that start with Capital One, or is it an older card originally issued by another lender? I've only seen one card higher than $4,000 here and most people (including wife who has scores in the 800s and has had her card for over 25 years) are stuck at $3,000 receiving letters that say "you already have the maximum credit line that this type of account allows."

Thank you for your thoughts...Unfortunately Chase is going down to 0 instead of equally because right now its 0% APR. I feel it would be easier for me to focus on 1 card with 1 APR % then 2 cards with 2 different APR %.

And I double checked. Its at 4k I mispoke. I have forced them to lower it several times throughout the years. For a while it stayed at 3k and it jumped again a couple years ago. I don't have a lot of other types of credit elsewhere and I was told I want my credit to be more balanced. So when I get my overall usuage down I'm going to askt hem to lower it again. I have had that card for almost 6 years now. I'm not sure who it was issued by as it was my second ever 'charge' card when I was first getting credit. I don't use it a lot--maybe that is why they kept raising it?

***edit*** I also used to have amazing credit (780). Then I made a stupid mistake with two of my credit cards (CapitalOne and Syncrony Bank) and it tanked my credit down to 500. After cutting a deal with Syncrony and paying them back and closing the card, I need CapitalOne down.

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 22:59:24 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
Are you a member of any local CU?
Sometimes they can be a bit more lenient with their members vs. cc issuers

Unfortunately I am not. I was never sure how CUs worked and kind of steered clear from 'unknown'...probably not the best tactic but after I lived above my means I didn't really have any money to put in one anyway.

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

K-in-Boston — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 23:02:24 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thank you for your thoughts...Unfortunately Chase is going down to 0 instead of equally because right now its 0% APR. I feel it would be easier for me to focus on 1 card with 1 APR % then 2 cards with 2 different APR %.

And I double checked. Its at 4k I mispoke. I have forced them to lower it several times throughout the years. For a while it stayed at 3k and it jumped again a couple years ago. I don't have a lot of credit elsewhere and I was told I want my credit to be more balanced. So when I get my overall usuage down I'm going to askt hem to lower it again. I have had that card for almost 6 years now. I'm not sure who it was issued by as it was my second ever 'charge' card when I was first getting credit. I don't use it a lot--maybe that is why they kept raising it?

***edit*** I used to have amazing credit (780). Then I made a stupid mistake with two of my credit cards (CapitalOne and Syncrony Bank) and it tanked my credit down to 500. After cutting a deal with Syncrony and paying them back and closing the card, I need CapitalOne down.

Thanks for the clarification on the Kohl's card. It has been issued by Capital One since 2011, so yours has always been a CapOne card. As for having your credit more balanced, I'm not sure I understand that. Outside of insurance scores (which aren't used in CA, HI, MA), scoring doesn't differentiate between retail and bank cards - they're all just revolving credit cards. The only real reasons for a credit line decrease would be for your own security reasons or if you're brushing up against total revolving credit compared to income. With your total limits right now, the latter would only be a concern if you had no income at all.

As for paying off the Chase card but leaving the Capital One card at 90-100% utilization, that's of course your choice to make. However, having a completely maxed out credit card is a big red flag for lenders, deflates your credit scores far more than having for example two cards at 70%, and will seriously lower your chances for new credit to transfer the balance - or at least qualifying for a credit line large enough to support the balance you'd like to transfer. Best of luck to you.

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 23:18:35 GMT

Thanks for the clarification on the Kohl's card. It has been issued by Capital One since 2011, so yours has always been a CapOne card. As for having your credit more balanced, I'm not sure I understand that. Outside of insurance scores (which aren't used in CA, HI, MA), scoring doesn't differentiate between retail and bank cards - they're all just revolving credit cards. The only real reasons for a credit line decrease would be for your own security reasons or if you're brushing up against total revolving credit compared to income. With your total limits right now, the latter would only be a concern if you had no income at all.
As for paying off the Chase card but leaving the Capital One card at 90-100% utilization, that's of course your choice to make. However, having a completely maxed out credit card is a big red flag for lenders, deflates your credit scores far more than having for example two cards at 70%, and will seriously lower your chances for new credit to transfer the balance - or at least qualifying for a credit line large enough to support the balance you'd like to transfer. Best of luck to you.

Well I have a family member who works for the bank and they were telling me if I don't have a more balanced credit ie, car loan, credit cards, morgage, etc.. then it can be bad. So if all my credit comes from credit cards it wouldn't look as good as some credit from cards and some from a loan...and I will think it over again. Thank you for your help!

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 23:51:39 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:

Thanks for the clarification on the Kohl's card. It has been issued by Capital One since 2011, so yours has always been a CapOne card. As for having your credit more balanced, I'm not sure I understand that. Outside of insurance scores (which aren't used in CA, HI, MA), scoring doesn't differentiate between retail and bank cards - they're all just revolving credit cards. The only real reasons for a credit line decrease would be for your own security reasons or if you're brushing up against total revolving credit compared to income. With your total limits right now, the latter would only be a concern if you had no income at all.

As for paying off the Chase card but leaving the Capital One card at 90-100% utilization, that's of course your choice to make. However, having a completely maxed out credit card is a big red flag for lenders, deflates your credit scores far more than having for example two cards at 70%, and will seriously lower your chances for new credit to transfer the balance - or at least qualifying for a credit line large enough to support the balance you'd like to transfer. Best of luck to you.

Well I have a family member who works for a bank. They told me its better to have credit from multiple sources (ie cards, loans, etc) then a ton from just one type. As for the utilization I will think it through again. Thank you for the information!

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

K-in-Boston — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 00:04:18 GMT

You're very welcome! Oh certainly having a diverse assortment of account types is very important (simply having an open installment loan alone can be 20-30 points for some people).

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Jan 2019 18:10:37 GMT

Carecredit is a soft pull for a credit line increase, if you log into your account online click the increase limit button and ask for something big. The worst that can happen is they say no. I just got a soft pull today from them 6k to 18k. My scores and stats are different but if you do get something out of them your utilization and overall available credit can go up. As long as what you click through doesn’t mention pulling your report you’re good to go.

Re: Balance Transfer Card Question

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Jan 2019 18:56:24 GMT

I would say the best advice regarding account types is to diversify. I wouldn't focus too much on balancing unless your FICO attributes say so.

When you are presented with a FICO score it comes with 3 to 4 attributes. And those attributes are usually listed in the order of most impact. Pay attention to those. They are the things holding your score down.