topic Re: Discover BT- First time in Credit Cards

Discover BT- First time

Tg123 — Thu, 12 May 2011 13:16:42 GMT

Hi everyone!

If I have a card that's currently using $10,900/$25,000 and I just got a BT card with a limit of $10,500 what's the best amount to transfer. First BT so I'm just trying to see what I should do.

Re: Discover BT- First time

Anonymous — Thu, 12 May 2011 13:45:59 GMT

Discover has a 5% BT fee, so even if you max out the card for the transfer, keep in mind .05 x 10500 = $525. Additionally, you'd be maxing out the card; even at 80% of the card's limit, is the transfer worth it?

Re: Discover BT- First time

Tg123 — Thu, 12 May 2011 13:50:24 GMT

The offer received includes no BT fee. So it saves over $200 in interest a month

Re: Discover BT- First time

Anonymous — Thu, 12 May 2011 14:02:47 GMT

@Tg123 wrote:
The offer received includes no BT fee. So it saves over $200 in interest a month

Well that's a horse of different color! What are the terms? 0% for how many months? Did you call and perhaps ask them for more so you don't max out that card?

Re: Discover BT- First time

Tg123 — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:58:09 GMT

12 months and no I didn't think to. Were you referring to time or cl? My worry is the amount i should put the card under the current circumstances, but any advice you give is appreciated!

Re: Discover BT- First time

MarineVietVet — Thu, 12 May 2011 20:17:03 GMT

@Tg123 wrote:
12 months and no I didn't think to. Were you referring to time or cl? My worry is the amount i should put the card under the current circumstances, but any advice you give is appreciated!

If you don't pay off the balance in 12 months what does the interest rate default to? And what interest are you paying now?

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

Re: Discover BT- First time

Tg123 — Fri, 13 May 2011 02:49:39 GMT

The APR defaults to high 18.99%. Currently 9.9% on my account. Please advise. It is possible to pay off before 12 months I just dont know the amount I should transfer to the new account

Re: Discover BT- First time

MarineVietVet — Fri, 13 May 2011 03:11:18 GMT

@Tg123 wrote:
The APR defaults to high 18.99%. Currently 9.9% on my account. Please advise. It is possible to pay off before 12 months I just dont know the amount I should transfer to the new account

I'll say what I would probably do but it's just my opinion and not necessarily the right thing for you.

I would be nervous about maxing out that brand new card because Discover might also get nervous if they see you BT'ing the entire CL all at once. I would BT half the CL of the new card; in this case about $5,000. That would make the utilization about 48% (5,000/10,5000) which is pretty high but not enough to draw the attention of Discover IMO. This would make your payments about $417 a month to pay off in a year

That would leave the utilization on the original card at 24% (5,9000/25,000).

I realize this won't save the $200 a month in interest that you talked about but you'll still save interest and hopefully can get both balances paid off in a year.

However I've made plenty of credit mistakes in the past (still do) and others might have much better ideas than mine.

Re: Discover BT- First time

Tg123 — Fri, 13 May 2011 03:15:22 GMT

Ok thanks. I'm activating the card soon and I'm hoping I can get more insight tonight

Re: Discover BT- First time

Tg123 — Fri, 13 May 2011 15:59:02 GMT

Anyone else dealt with BT and have some advice? I can see what marinevietvet is saying and it makes sense, I'm just new to this so I would like some more advice from others to compare. Even just a that's a way to go is great. Thanks

Re: Discover BT- First time

Tg123 — Sun, 15 May 2011 06:04:41 GMT

Bump

Re: Discover BT- First time

score_building — Sun, 15 May 2011 10:10:03 GMT

When I've BTed, it's been under 50% as a rule but some others have reported sucessful BT pay downs starting from higher UTI. My advise would be to at least stay well under 75% and pay it down aggressively from the 1st payment.