topic Re: Cash Advance Question in Credit Cards

Cash Advance Question

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 18:42:43 GMT

Hello all,

I can't seem to find what I am looking for so I thought I'll just ask. Is there any updside or downside to "voluntarily" requesting to have your Cash Advance Limit reduced to the lowest possible or a limit of 0 on your credit cards? Also what does a increase or reduction for your CAL signify; as a general consensus for all cards?

Thank you for any responses.

Re: Cash Advance Question

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 19:20:42 GMT

The point of $0 CAL is to avoid CA fees when using a card to open Checking/Savings accounts for a SUB either on the card or the C/S accounts.

Re: Cash Advance Question

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 20:59:05 GMT

wow, i didn't know you can open a bank acc using a credit card! how often are people doing it, and where do you find the SUB's for it? do you think this is the best way to open a new acct?

Re: Cash Advance Question

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 21:00:20 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
wow, i didn't know you can open a bank acc using a credit card! how often are people doing it, and where do you find the SUB's for it? do you think this is the best way to open a new acct?

no no no no no

Re: Cash Advance Question

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 21:14:49 GMT

would of been too good to be true, free money in my acct for a month what did you mean by using a card to open an acct?

Re: Cash Advance Question

K-in-Boston — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 21:16:25 GMT

The downside is that you wouldn't have cash available to you on that card if you found yourself in need of a cash advance, such as an emergency when traveling. The upside is that any charges you wouldn't expect to be coded as a cash advance rather than a purchase would be denied, and if your card is stolen you wouldn't need to worry about someone making off with a large cash advance. The cash advance limit is only known to you and the lender, so there should be zero impact anywhere.

As for funding bank accounts, that's quite common. When I opened my PenFed share account the day I applied for my Defender card, I had to use a credit card to fund the account because their closest branch is many hundreds of miles from me.

Re: Cash Advance Question

HighAchiever — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 00:57:34 GMT

Wow, I learn something new everyday on this forum!!!

Re: Cash Advance Question

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 04:22:21 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
The downside is that you wouldn't have cash available to you on that card if you found yourself in need of a cash advance, such as an emergency when traveling. The upside is that any charges you wouldn't expect to be coded as a cash advance rather than a purchase would be denied, and if your card is stolen you wouldn't need to worry about someone making off with a large cash advance. The cash advance limit is only known to you and the lender, so there should be zero impact anywhere.

As for funding bank accounts, that's quite common. When I opened my PenFed share account the day I applied for my Defender card, I had to use a credit card to fund the account because their closest branch is many hundreds of miles from me.

Thanks. Knowing that I might ask to have some of the limits on my everyday use cards lowered.

Re: Cash Advance Question

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 14:20:31 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
The downside is that you wouldn't have cash available to you on that card if you found yourself in need of a cash advance, such as an emergency when traveling. The upside is that any charges you wouldn't expect to be coded as a cash advance rather than a purchase would be denied, and if your card is stolen you wouldn't need to worry about someone making off with a large cash advance. The cash advance limit is only known to you and the lender, so there should be zero impact anywhere.

As for funding bank accounts, that's quite common. When I opened my PenFed share account the day I applied for my Defender card, I had to use a credit card to fund the account because their closest branch is many hundreds of miles from me.

One other downside: for some cards, funding some banks (and possibly some other types of transactions), the transaction is initially coded as a cash advance, but then gets automatically converted into a normal purchase transaction. Those that have lowered the cash advance limit will get the transaction denied, even though it is eventually harmless.

But if you are using cards to open bank accounts, you should be consulting the relevant data lists (such as DoctorofCredit and maybe Flyertalk) which list DP as to what cards worked with which banks and quirks like CA->purchase conversion. There is still a risk if something changes, but hey, you are playing a game with risks!

Re: Cash Advance Question

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 13:38:57 GMT

Yes I love this forum. I love learning from everyone.