topic Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer in Credit Cards

Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:09:20 GMT

Hi, I'm new here. Just bought Suze Orman's FICO kit. First thing it tells me about eliminating the debt on my 2 credit cards is that I'm paying too much interest based on my credit score. So, it tells me to call to ask for a rate decrease (which I was going to do anyway). The first card compnay I called was only willing to lower my rate by half a percent. For reference, originally the card's APR was 9% but I received a letter last fall stating that the economy was forcing them to start charging me 27% interest. This has gone down over the months, little by little, to 17.24% but even with the decrease it will still be 8% more than I was told I deserve. Since this applied to both of my credit cards, after researching the pros and cons, I followed the instructions and for the first time, applied for a new card for the sake of doing a balance transfer. And I was denied! I feel like I just made things worse! I don't get it though. I've had credit for more than 10 years, it's been 2 years since I've gotten new credit, I've had no inquiries between then and now, my FICO score is above 720, I've never been late on a payment, always pay more than the minimum, and am 3 months away from being able to pay off one of the cards completely. The only reason they said I was denied was because of the balance on my cards. What does this mean for me now?? How long should I wait to apply for more credit? How much is this going to negatively impact my credit and for how long? I'm so frustrated. I was pretty confident that this wouldn't be an issue!

TIA for any advice or wisdom on this subject.

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:25:28 GMT

it got to be the carrying balance that they don't like. My hubby got denied by Discover More card and he has a 760 scores but is carrying $13K balance.

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

Creditaddict — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:46:15 GMT

It would be useful to know what cards you have currently and balance and CL of those accounts and then who you applied for that denied you

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

laz98 — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:23:14 GMT

i know you said your scores are above 720, i don't know how far above, but unfortunately, 720 isn't as good as it used to be. people are having a harder time with credit issues than they used to, with scores in that range.

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:36:40 GMT

My average score is 730. I currently have an AmEx card with a $600 balance on a $2000 credit limit, I have a Mastercard with an $11,000 balance on an $11,500 CL as well as another charge card that is paid off with a $3000 limit. I was denied a Discover card (can't remember the name, it had a biodegradeable symbol on it). I realize I have a high balance but I have been consistently paying off my cards (I've been concentrating on the AMEX card because the APR was so high and have just been paying the minimum on the MC). Like I said, I should have the AmEx card paid off by November at the latest. Unfortunately, major medical expenses over the last 4 years are the reason I even carry any debt anyway. But I just finished paying off all my med bills which has freed up a few hundred dollars per month to dedicate to my cards. A few people recommended doing a transfer and, I figured I was in a good position to make it happen. Instead, this has just put a mark on my credit. What's the point of trying to do a balance transfer, which should help you, if you don't know for certain you'll be approved and, in fact, are denied?? It's just frustrating because I'm trying to do all the right things.

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

laz98 — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 17:41:09 GMT

i agree, it's totally frustrating. i'm like, why can't you see that i want to do a balance transfer BECAUSE i'm carrying balances??? duh!

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

Uniqua — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 22:27:08 GMT

Looks like you're at 70% util. Lenders shy away from numbers that high. Thought it may not be the case, to them it appears that you are having trouble paying your bills. They don't want to be added to that list and risk getting burned by a BK. You can apply for credit whenever you want to, but you should get your util down before doing so. For FICO scoring purposes, anything <10% is good. It would also help to increase your FICO scores by getting your util down.

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

haulingthescoreup — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 02:11:38 GMT

@laz98 wrote:
i agree, it's totally frustrating. i'm like, why can't you see that i want to do a balance transfer BECAUSE i'm carrying balances??? duh!

Yep, it's the common thing about only getting credit offers when you don't need them.

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:58:30 GMT

I don't plan on applying for more credit for a while. Especially if I'm going to be denied for balance transfers. That's the only reason I wanted to apply for credit. When you say, "you can apply for credit whenever you want to", obviously, I can but how much is it hurting me to get those inquiries every time without being accepted for a card? That's what I'm most concerned about right now. I just got my scores and am not going to pay for them again right now to see what this latest inquiry did but I am curious as to how much of a problem this creates for me. I'm paranoid that I just made my situation worse for applying for credit in the future.

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:06:01 GMT

superjeep wrote:

My average score is 730. I currently have an AmEx card with a $600 balance on a $2000 credit limit, I have a Mastercard with an $11,000 balance on an $11,500 CL as well as another charge card that is paid off with a $3000 limit. I was denied a Discover card (can't remember the name, it had a biodegradeable symbol on it). I realize I have a high balance but I have been consistently paying off my cards (I've been concentrating on the AMEX card because the APR was so high and have just been paying the minimum on the MC). Like I said, I should have the AmEx card paid off by November at the latest. Unfortunately, major medical expenses over the last 4 years are the reason I even carry any debt anyway. But I just finished paying off all my med bills which has freed up a few hundred dollars per month to dedicate to my cards. A few people recommended doing a transfer and, I figured I was in a good position to make it happen. Instead, this has just put a mark on my credit. What's the point of trying to do a balance transfer, which should help you, if you don't know for certain you'll be approved and, in fact, are denied?? It's just frustrating because I'm trying to do all the right things.

I am sorry to hear that you have been denied by Discover.

$600 balance w/17.24% APR on 2k CL and $11k balance on 11.5k CL

I assume you are planning to pay around $200/mo to AmEx and pays off by Nov.

On the MC itself, the util is 95.65% ... yes, this is too high.

I only can advise is to pay as much as you can on MC to bring the balance down by setting the target ... first target is <10k then, <9k it depends on the $/mo you can pay.

Every time (every 12 mos before 0% APR expires) I opened a new ccs, I did BT and had a same high balance to begin with. From A to B, From B to C, From C to D, From D to E and F. Then I finally paid it off ! Yeeees, it was long journey is sure. You can do it ... because I could do it.

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

Uniqua — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:09:05 GMT

That one inquiry did nothing to hurt your credit, so I wouldn't worry about it at all. From the information you've provided, the only thing hurting your score is the high util. Inquiries may ding your score when you've had too many in a short time frame. I once had 3 and I think I got a 2 point score drop. One inquiry in two years is actually good. Inquiries really don't sting as much as new accounts can. That's where your concern should be if you are worried about your score. You've added no new accounts in a couple of years so there is no need for paranoia. If you plan on apping again, make sure you know which CR the company is going to pull. Try not to have too many inquires on one report. Shuffle it around. Having one inquiry on each CR would probably be best for you if you are shopping for a balance transfer offer. Have you tried Barclays? They have a good reputation for approval on recon and they pull TU exclusively.

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:43:55 GMT

I had no idea you could pick and choose what CRs company's looked at. How does that happen? I'm obviously very naive about how this all works. All I know is I got credit that I needed, I pay it off as I can, and somehow it all reflects on my reports and credit scores lol. The details are all very fuzzy to me though. And yes, I plan to have AmEx paid off soon. Been trying to roll over $350 per month from my med bills that I finished paying but had a set back this month. Once I get that done with though, I'll have about $600 per month to go towards my MC. This actually brings me to my next concern though....and maybe this isn't the place to bring this up but....

Right now I basically have no savings because of my situation over the last few years. This really concerns me, especially if something big happens and I can't afford to, for example, fix my car. If I put all $600 towards my card, I'll be happy to be paying that off but....I'm still not getting any further with creating a savings. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to handle this? Is it best to just pay off the card faster, be broke a little while longer and focus on savings later? Or how much would be wise to set aside for savings out of that $600? Honestly, I almost even hate to have savings knowing I could be paying down my card instead. I get addicted to seeing the balance get smaller! But...I don't want to get in another bind down the road. Suggestions?

TIA.

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:21:39 GMT

You cannot pick which CR the company looks at. But you can pick which company you apply for credit with, and research which CR they normally look at.

Putting cash in savings at 1.5% interest as opposed to paying off that same amount of debt at 20% interest is not financially sound. Your best way to save money right now, is pay off your CC debt. If something comes up, you have your credit cards as a safety net. Sure, you will get set back a bit in your quest to pay off your cards...but you'd still be debt free faster in the long run, and will have paid less money to get there.

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:03:52 GMT

superjeep,

What is APR on your MC?

Have you considered to get a personal loan?

If you can get a personal loan with same or lower APR than your MC ... that will be great.

And if so, you will save the BT fees and you can pay off your MC and just keep paying to your new loan.

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:06:58 GMT

That's why I'm hesitant to even deal with a savings right now since I'm spending more than I'm earning in interest between the card and the account. At the same time, I am paycheck to paycheck. While I have a retirement account, etc., I'm thinking in terms of access to cash (and cash I don't get charged a bazillion percent for). There are still some places that don't accept cards or...the cards I have....and god forbid any merchant's machine breaks down. As it is, I'm preparing for layoffs at work and if that happens....that's the only way I'd really have to pay for anything seeing as my MC is maxed out right now and I dread using my AMEX (which isn't accepted everywhere anyway, compared to, say, Visa). Then again, to your point, if I take $200 to put aside for cash every month....over 12 months, that still doesn't seem like much saved compared to what I have to pay off. :/

As for getting a loan, I hadn't considered it. I've actually never applied for a loan before and with everything else as it is I'm nervous about doing so. My MC's APR is currently 9.9%. I think I would rather just work on paying it off than mess around with another loan to have to pay back. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Credit score of 730 per letter from West Elm, denied b/c of too many inquiries

haulingthescoreup — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:35:37 GMT

kdemeire's post titled "Credit score of 730 per letter from West Elm, denied b/c of too many inquiries" was tacked on to this 2010 for some reason. I split it off to form its own thread.

Meanwhile, the following two posts appeared, replying to the original topic, doubtless not realizing that this was an old thread that was dug up again. Sorry for any confusion. I couldn't figure out how else to untangle it all.

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:27:36 GMT

Like others have said it is not the inquiry that is hurting you right now, it is the balances compard to your available credit. The credit card companies, as a rule, hate high balances compard to avaiable credit.

If you continue to apply though for more crdit cards, then it will look like you are over extending yourself and you could be denied for both the balances and the inquiries. Sometimes it is hard to figure how an individual company will respond to those things, but generally it is the debt/availble credit ratio that is the real big flag.

You need to try to get at least below 50% and ideally under 10% before you can realisticaly have a shot at new credit.

I feel your pain with the medical stuff. I have more health issues than most and sometimes those things can overwhelm. Try to keep some cash on hand and thorw the rest at that mc.

My opinion only of course. Be careful about trying to hard with your current cards; it would suck bad if they look things over and cut your limits. Card companies have been known to do that, even if you have always paid them on time.

Good luck with it all.

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:23:04 GMT

I never pay for a balance transfer.

We just use all available cash to pay on the card we want freed up, then charge everything (gas, food, everything) to the card we are wanting to put the balance onto.

Just make sure to have enough cash to make more than a minimum payment on the cards youre moving the balance to.

Works like a charm.

We dont owe much so we can do it in one month, but with a big balance it would just take longer.

Once the free transfer is complete, just get back to your normal budget.

Doing it this way doesnt show as a transfer but it does show that you paid off a huge balance.

Re: Good Credit, Denied Balance Transfer

haulingthescoreup — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:39:03 GMT

Quick note: please see message 15 above.

A new member tried to start a new topic on this old thread, bumping it back to life, and then two members replied to it. Nothing wrong with that of course, and certainly understandable since someone had resurrected the thread.

I just wanted to point it out, since some of the posters on the 2010 thread are no longer active here in the forums.