topic Re: Have UW standards relaxed anywhere with Covid-19? in Credit Cards

Have UW standards relaxed anywhere with Covid-19?

macinjosh — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 16:54:29 GMT

I really would like a BT card so I can transfer the last of my Discover card balance before the 0% intro rate ends, but have any banks relaxed their underwriting standards? I know US Bank is heavily marketing their Platinum cards (Personal & Business) for 20 months with 0% interest.

Re: Have UW standards relaxed anywhere with Covid-19?

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 17:12:51 GMT

With what's going on, I don't see relaxed UW in the cards. Perhaps with terms could be met with existing lenders, heck Citi and Disco are always offering BT's. I just don't see it happnening on new accounts. As others have said if you have a strong profile it's likely business as usual, but if you don't then it might be a tad tougher. Who knows.

I know this may seem like a weird move by some, but in the past I have totally paid off a BT right before the 0% expiration date from savings.

Then I just take out another 0% BT to replace it. While i don't really advocate this beacuse it can just cause you to be in a constant BT shuffle, it works in a pinch.

Or if you belong to a CU, just transfer from their CC with no fees to pay it off. Then BT back to Discover for the next 0%. I've done that before as well. And since the interest is so low at CU's, the most you'd pay before the balance tranfers is a couple bucks. At mine it was only $0.97.

Re: Have UW standards relaxed anywhere with Covid-19?

Mv350 — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 17:16:05 GMT

Not in my experience so far, but as you can see in my signature. I have a TON of INQ, half of them are unscorable from car shopping Nov 2018. But I also have 1 negative left that a quite a few new accounts in the last 6 months.

With stronger profile, I'm sure there would be more options. The US bank platinum was on my list also. HSBC has the gold card for 18 months 0% right now too.

Re: Have UW standards relaxed anywhere with Covid-19?

M_Smart007 — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 17:50:03 GMT

@macinjosh wrote:
I really would like a BT card so I can transfer the last of my Discover card balance before the 0% intro rate ends, but have any banks relaxed their underwriting standards? I know US Bank is heavily marketing their Platinum cards (Personal & Business) for 20 months with 0% interest.

@macinjosh, You should be able to transfer some or all depending on the amount? .. to your PenFed PCR

and it can be done on the website. I have no idea if this would help you.

Re: Have UW standards relaxed anywhere with Covid-19?

macinjosh — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 18:17:06 GMT

@M_Smart007 wrote:
@macinjosh wrote:
I really would like a BT card so I can transfer the last of my Discover card balance before the 0% intro rate ends, but have any banks relaxed their underwriting standards? I know US Bank is heavily marketing their Platinum cards (Personal & Business) for 20 months with 0% interest.
@macinjosh, You should be able to transfer some or all depending on the amount? .. to your PenFed PCR
and it can be done on the website. I have no idea if this would help you.

I did a BT to my PCR. I limited myself to $4300 with transfer fee so my Util wasn't too high. I really wish Citi would give me a BT offer on my Best Buy Visa. I really should call them, but I haven't had time.

Re: Have UW standards relaxed anywhere with Covid-19?

pinkandgrey — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 19:23:30 GMT

You and I are in the exact same boat. Trying to move balance off Disco before the 0 runs out.

Re: Have UW standards relaxed anywhere with Covid-19?

M_Smart007 — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 20:07:35 GMT

@pinkandgrey wrote:
You and I are in the exact same boat. Trying to move balance off Disco before the 0 runs out.

I almost posted the link to your thread.

Re: Have UW standards relaxed anywhere with Covid-19?

RehabbingANDBlabbing — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 04:55:42 GMT

Have you tried the BB&T prequalifier? They have a BT card called the Bright card and their Cash rewards card also does a BT offer as well. You can check and see the terms/credit line before applying, so maybe try that and see what happens?

https://www.bbt.com/offers/checkOffers

Re: Have UW standards relaxed anywhere with Covid-19?

NRB525 — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 08:46:38 GMT

@macinjosh wrote:
@M_Smart007 wrote:
@macinjosh wrote:
I really would like a BT card so I can transfer the last of my Discover card balance before the 0% intro rate ends, but have any banks relaxed their underwriting standards? I know US Bank is heavily marketing their Platinum cards (Personal & Business) for 20 months with 0% interest.
@macinjosh, You should be able to transfer some or all depending on the amount? .. to your PenFed PCR
and it can be done on the website. I have no idea if this would help you.

I did a BT to my PCR. I limited myself to $4300 with transfer fee so my Util wasn't too high. I really wish Citi would give me a BT offer on my Best Buy Visa. I really should call them, but I haven't had time.

I didn't see PCR in your siggy?

How much is your PCR limit? How much total was on your Discover Balance?

As noted up thread, the tactic of moving a balance temporarily to a CU or other no-BT Fee card is... it is temporary. You give it a week then BT it back to the better BT offer card. You time it to all occur within a statement period so ideally it does not pop up as a spike balance in your reporting.

Unless you are me, in which case the spike in utilization on a statement is not something I worry about. Utilization has no memory and fades with time. The spike in utilization sort of remains on your reports as an indication you have larger balances. Combined with never missing any payments, some of us believe that voodoo helps future apps for CC.

Re: Have UW standards relaxed anywhere with Covid-19?

kdm31091 — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 13:44:01 GMT

If anything I think the opposite - lending standards are probably tightening up, not relaxing. Banks are trying to cut expenses and reduce risk. It would make little sense to relax underwriting right now.

Instead of opening a new account with potentially a weak starting limit, you could try working with your lender on your existing balance. Perhaps the rate can be extended, or at least you could be offered a reduced rate for x amount of time. I'd try that before attempting to open a new account at the moment.

Re: Have UW standards relaxed anywhere with Covid-19?

Berk — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 15:35:56 GMT

Less cash coming in and more cash going out is not how banks operate. We will most assuredly see a tightening up on lending like we did in 08. I fully expect to see some CLD's start hitting some of us simply because the banks will want to start lessening their potential exposure. I have almost 80K with Citi and am waiting for them to start lowering my limits. I've already stopped paying bills with my Amex and am now putting them through my checking account. I'm trying to reduce the impact a CLD will have on my finances.

If we have a repeat of 08 and the housing financials collapse again, we will see big banks on the brink of failure - Citi, J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo, etc. - all the banks that have a huge chunk of their business in mortages. We will also see pension funds, etc., collapse again. It will be a repeat of 08 all over again. Not trying to be a fear monger but trying to be realistic. Today's mortage lending scheme and all the ancilary financial products mortages produce are as abundant now as they were in 08. Which, incidentally caused the financial collapse to be so widespread to begin with. With that said, I'm pretty sure we will start seeing banks taking steps to prevent a repeat as best they can.

Re: Have UW standards relaxed anywhere with Covid-19?

macinjosh — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 06:47:29 GMT

@RehabbingANDBlabbing wrote:
Have you tried the BB&T prequalifier? They have a BT card called the Bright card and their Cash rewards card also does a BT offer as well. You can check and see the terms/credit line before applying, so maybe try that and see what happens?

https://www.bbt.com/offers/checkOffers

Sadly, I'm outside BBT's geographic area, as I'm in Nevada. I do keep checking periodically to see if their geo-boundary changes, but no go. Thanks for mentioning it though.

Re: Have UW standards relaxed anywhere with Covid-19?

macinjosh — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 06:55:53 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
@macinjosh wrote:
@M_Smart007 wrote:
@macinjosh wrote:
I really would like a BT card so I can transfer the last of my Discover card balance before the 0% intro rate ends, but have any banks relaxed their underwriting standards? I know US Bank is heavily marketing their Platinum cards (Personal & Business) for 20 months with 0% interest.
@macinjosh, You should be able to transfer some or all depending on the amount? .. to your PenFed PCR
and it can be done on the website. I have no idea if this would help you.

I did a BT to my PCR. I limited myself to $4300 with transfer fee so my Util wasn't too high. I really wish Citi would give me a BT offer on my Best Buy Visa. I really should call them, but I haven't had time.
I didn't see PCR in your siggy?
How much is your PCR limit? How much total was on your Discover Balance?

As noted up thread, the tactic of moving a balance temporarily to a CU or other no-BT Fee card is... it is temporary. You give it a week then BT it back to the better BT offer card. You time it to all occur within a statement period so ideally it does not pop up as a spike balance in your reporting.

Unless you are me, in which case the spike in utilization on a statement is not something I worry about. Utilization has no memory and fades with time. The spike in utilization sort of remains on your reports as an indication you have larger balances. Combined with never missing any payments, some of us believe that voodoo helps future apps for CC.

PCR is the last card in my siggy. Limit is $6,250. Discover Balance was $9k. I decided to keep the utilization of the card just under 68.9%, the same I did with my Citi Diamond Preferred. Smaller limit, so smaller BT. As for a CU card, I only have 1 other CU, and it has a $4k balance on it from an earlier BT with 5.99% for life of balance.

Re: Have UW standards relaxed anywhere with Covid-19?

macinjosh — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 15:15:28 GMT

So, is it normal for PenFed to offer a set rate not quite 3 months after last approval? Right now they are showing 17.99% on all 4 cards that they are showing in the products page.