topic Re: Penfed balance transfer check question in Credit Cards

Penfed balance transfer check question

Madyun1982 — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 23:03:05 GMT

Hello.. I received balance transfer checks from penfed I wanted to take advantage of the 0%apr for 12mos at 3% transfer. But I was wondering can I make the check out to myself? Or do I write the check it the the company. It says on the enclosed notice. I can write the check to myself. However I wanted to as you guys on here. I would've called penfed. However sometimes they give conflicting answers.
Thanks in advance

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

K-in-Boston — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 23:05:10 GMT

Yes, you can write the check to yourself and deposit it into the bank account of your choice, or make it out directly to any lender and mail it.

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

Madyun1982 — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 23:07:25 GMT

Thank you. I didn't want it to look like I did, an cash advance..

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

K-in-Boston — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 23:13:26 GMT

No problem at all. The line is very blurred between convenience checks and cash advances (some lenders like BoA, Citi, and Discover, will let you just initiate a direct deposit to your checking account for a balance transfer), but generally a cash advance will always involve actually using the card itself to receive funds.

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

Madyun1982 — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 23:17:01 GMT

Thank you.. I actually just got off the phone with a penfed rep. She stated that if I tried to write the check to myself. It would decline because that's not considered a balance transfer🤦‍♀️ I said well it states on your enclosure that you can.. She said you can't because it'll be looked at like a cash advance. Confused face.. Sooo I asked why would it be written in black and white if it weren't possible.. She then goes to say. She's not sure why it states that.. I'm even more confused.. Penfed reps always give conflicting info..

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

M_Smart007 — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 00:16:39 GMT

@Madyun1982 wrote:
Thank you.. I actually just got off the phone with a penfed rep. She stated that if I tried to write the check to myself. It would decline because that's not considered a balance transfer🤦‍♀️ I said well it states on your enclosure that you can.. She said you can't because it'll be looked at like a cash advance. Confused face.. Sooo I asked why would it be written in black and white if it weren't possible.. She then goes to say. She's not sure why it states that.. I'm even more confused.. Penfed reps always give conflicting info..

Wow, sounds like it is a clear as mud

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

Madyun1982 — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 00:25:47 GMT

Exactly.. I'm gonna attempt it. And see what happens..

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

thornback — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 00:39:45 GMT

@Madyun1982 wrote:
Exactly.. I'm gonna attempt it. And see what happens..

I've used the PenFed BT Checks as a check written to myself and deposited into my bank account. It cleared, I got the cash, my card showed the BT amount, as written on the check, at the 0% offer. It was neither denied nor treated as a cash advance.

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

Madyun1982 — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 00:52:18 GMT

@Thornback
Thank you soo much. This is why I love this site. You guys are more informative than most of the reps..

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

thornback — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 00:56:37 GMT

@Madyun1982 wrote:
@Thornback
Thank you soo much. This is why I love this site. You guys are more informative than most of the reps..

You're welcome! Besides - even if they tried to screw you and apply it as a cash advance (highly doubtful, but just for the sake of discussion), all you'd have to do is show them their own terms that were attached to the check -- they'd honor it since, if it was an error - it was their error, not yours.

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

Madyun1982 — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 01:08:07 GMT

I'm gonna let the funds sit.. Until I see what they do.. But I def put the enclosure of their terms up just in case.. Thx again

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

Shooting-For-800 — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 02:03:59 GMT

Yes, you can make the check out to yourself.

I just wrote one for $14,000 on an 18 month 0.99% apr offer.

My funds were available the next day (not typical for many) and it posted to my PenFed account with 3-4 days.

For some crazy reason, I THEN asked for a CLI and got $2,500.

I will never figure out PenFed, but I am happy for now.

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 02:30:44 GMT

@Shooting-For-800 Presumably there was also a BT fee on your offer?

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

Shooting-For-800 — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 02:52:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Shooting-For-800 Presumably there was also a BT fee on your offer?

3% if I remember correctly.

Same as my 12 month offer.

6 extra months for 0.99% instead of 0%.

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 03:48:21 GMT

I haven't heard of a single lender that will send you convenience checks and get upset about you writing one to yourself. It seems like they just look at your history and decide that it's worth taking the cash risk with you when they send you the checks.

There are some like NFCU though that will not let you use a promo with a convenience check. Full APR BT only if you write it to yourself but I believe they do that because they don't charge a BT fee. Gotta make money somehow.

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 12:39:13 GMT

@Saeren PNC does. Terms state that it's not allowed to write check to an individual or yourself.

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 15:31:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Saeren PNC does. Terms state that it's not allowed to write check to an individual or yourself.

I stand corrected. 😂

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 01:43:07 GMT

Weird, isn't it? Lol front of page says, "use like you would a personal check" while T&C on back says "must be at least $200 and may not exceed your available credit or be to individuals or for cash". So basically a check you can only use to pay an institution, business, charity, etc. since individuals would probably include yourself.

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 02:44:29 GMT

That's wild. I wonder how many people don't read the back and pay themselves or someone else anyway and how PNC reacts. It's certainly the first time I've heard of this.

Re: Penfed balance transfer check question

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 11:32:46 GMT

I thought about doing it just for kicks; but would've had an unhappy individual lol maybe write one to one of my brothers and tell him to keep an eye on it and see what happens w/ it