topic Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question in Credit Cards

0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

PedrokiPR — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 08:48:57 GMT

Hi, I am new to this of Balance Transfer. Most of my cars are 0% at the moment, I am trying to move half of the balance to my BarClayCard that states that:

0% Promotional APR until 11/01/15 , after that 24.99%
3% Balance Transfer Fee ($5.00 minimum / no maximum)
Transaction must post to your account by 10/01/14

My question is, if I transfer the balance, will I have to pay my regular APR of 24.99 monthly, or that specific amount would be 0% APR? I don't want to move something before until I am sure that I will not pay charges on that.

Hi again forums and thanks in advanced

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 12:24:35 GMT

@PedrokiPR wrote:
Hi, I am new to this of Balance Transfer. Most of my cars are 0% at the moment, I am trying to move half of the balance to my BarClayCard that states that:

0% Promotional APR until 11/01/15 , after that 24.99%
3% Balance Transfer Fee ($5.00 minimum / no maximum)
Transaction must post to your account by 10/01/14
My question is, if I transfer the balance, will I have to pay my regular APR of 24.99 monthly, or that specific amount would be 0% APR? I don't want to move something before until I am sure that I will not pay charges on that.

Hi again forums and thanks in advanced

The balance will be interest-free up through next November, meaning all payments you make through next November will go towards paying off your principal. From November onward, you'll be accruing 24.99% interest on whatever balance you have left. I don't think BT's usually do deferred interest.

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

leegreen — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 13:44:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@PedrokiPR wrote:
Hi, I am new to this of Balance Transfer. Most of my cars are 0% at the moment, I am trying to move half of the balance to my BarClayCard that states that:

0% Promotional APR until 11/01/15 , after that 24.99%
3% Balance Transfer Fee ($5.00 minimum / no maximum)
Transaction must post to your account by 10/01/14
My question is, if I transfer the balance, will I have to pay my regular APR of 24.99 monthly, or that specific amount would be 0% APR? I don't want to move something before until I am sure that I will not pay charges on that.

Hi again forums and thanks in advanced
The balance will be interest-free up through next November, meaning all payments you make through next November will go towards paying off your principal. From November onward, you'll be accruing 24.99% interest on whatever balance you have left. I don't think BT's usually do deferred interest.

You should also check to be sure that the promotional APR applies to BT, they sometimes only apply to purchases. You will be dinged the 3% when they do the transfer.

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 14:03:34 GMT

@leegreen wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@PedrokiPR wrote:
Hi, I am new to this of Balance Transfer. Most of my cars are 0% at the moment, I am trying to move half of the balance to my BarClayCard that states that:

0% Promotional APR until 11/01/15 , after that 24.99%
3% Balance Transfer Fee ($5.00 minimum / no maximum)
Transaction must post to your account by 10/01/14
My question is, if I transfer the balance, will I have to pay my regular APR of 24.99 monthly, or that specific amount would be 0% APR? I don't want to move something before until I am sure that I will not pay charges on that.

Hi again forums and thanks in advanced
The balance will be interest-free up through next November, meaning all payments you make through next November will go towards paying off your principal. From November onward, you'll be accruing 24.99% interest on whatever balance you have left. I don't think BT's usually do deferred interest.
You should also check to be sure that the promotional APR applies to BT, they sometimes only apply to purchases. You will be dinged the 3% when they do the transfer.

I have the Barclay Apple card and I currently have a couple of those BT offers; they do, indeed, apply to BT's and not purchases. You're right about the BT Fee also; should keep that in mind.

Again, the only concern I always have with BT's is that if you don't pay it off before the promo period expires, what happens to the balance? Does the deferred interest from the beginning of the BT come back to haunt you? Or does interest start accruing from the end of the promo period onward. When I checked my BT offers and read the language, it sort of sounds like if you don't pay it off during the promo period, they hit you with a massive retro-active deferred interest charge, which sucks because it completely defeats the purpose of the BT in the first place.

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

leegreen — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 13:57:18 GMT

Normally there isn't deferred interest for a BT with a major CC, however, if there is verbiage that makes you worry I would be careful the retro interest can truly suck. If you could post the paragraph that concerns you Or provide a link to the TandC I will look at it.

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 14:06:12 GMT

@leegreen wrote:
Normally there isn't deferred interest for a BT with a major CC, however, if there is verbiage that makes you worry I would be careful the retro interest can truly suck. If you could post the paragraph that concerns you Or provide a link to the TandC I will look at it.

Here's the verbiage from the BT:

Terms and conditions*

Interest and Fee Information
APR for Balance Transfers Made under this Offer	0% (APR through the last day of your billing cycle that ends on or after 02/01/16). After the promotional period ends, you will be charged the standard APR for balance transfers, currently 22.99%. This APR will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.
Post by Date	Your balance transfer must post to your account by 10/01/14 for the promotional APR offer to apply. If the balance transfer posts to your account after that date, you will not receive the promotional APR. Instead, the standard APR for balance transfers will apply.
Fee	Either $5.00 or 3% of the amount of each transaction, whichever is greater.
Paying Interest	We will begin charging interest on balance transfers on the transaction date.

The standard APR for balance transfers noted above is current as of 08/19/14 Balance transfers are subject to the terms of your Cardmember Agreement (as may be amended) with us.

Loss of Promotional APR: We may end your promotional APR and apply the Penalty APR if you make a late payment. In addition, as set forth in your Cardmember Agreement with us, a Penalty APR may be applied to your account if you make a late payment.

Paying Interest: We charge interest on balance transfers and cash advances beginning on the transaction date. We charge interest on purchases unless you pay your entire balance (which includes all purchases, cash advances new and existing balance transfers) by the payment due date each and every month. This includes any balances you transfer pursuant to this offer. If you revolve your balance and decide to take advantage of this promotion offer, all transactions and balances, including any purchases that you make will be charged interest. To avoid interest on purchases you must pay all balances transfers in full by the first payment due date after the balance transfer posts to your account. Please see your Cardmember Agreement for details on how interest accrues.

Reasons we may Decline a Balance Transfer: This offer is subject to credit availability. If your account is closed or your credit line is lowered for any reason after the time your account was selected for this offer, it could affect the available credit on your account and your ability to take advantage of this offer. We reserve the right to conduct a credit review, including obtaining third-party credit reports, to determine your eligibility for this offer. All balance transfer decisions, including decisions to honor balance transfer checks, are made solely at our discretion. Under certain circumstances, including but not limited to failure to maintain your account in good standing and failure to maintain your credit worthiness, we may decline to honor a balance transfer, including a balance transfer check.

Balance transfer transactions, including those made with checks, do not have the same charge back rights as transactions conducted with a credit card.

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

leegreen — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 14:17:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@leegreen wrote:
Normally there isn't deferred interest for a BT with a major CC, however, if there is verbiage that makes you worry I would be careful the retro interest can truly suck. If you could post the paragraph that concerns you Or provide a link to the TandC I will look at it.
Here's the verbiage from the BT:

Terms and conditions*
Interest and Fee Information
APR for Balance Transfers
Made under this Offer
0% (APR through the last day of your billing cycle that ends on or after 02/01/16). After the promotional period ends, you will be charged the standard APR for balance transfers, currently 22.99%. This APR will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.
Post by Date
Your balance transfer must post to your account by 10/01/14 for the promotional APR offer to apply. If the balance transfer posts to your account after that date, you will not receive the promotional APR. Instead, the standard APR for balance transfers will apply.
Fee
Either $5.00 or 3% of the amount of each transaction, whichever is greater.
Paying Interest
We will begin charging interest on balance transfers on the transaction date.

The standard APR for balance transfers noted above is current as of 08/19/14 Balance transfers are subject to the terms of your Cardmember Agreement (as may be amended) with us.

Loss of Promotional APR: We may end your promotional APR and apply the Penalty APR if you make a late payment. In addition, as set forth in your Cardmember Agreement with us, a Penalty APR may be applied to your account if you make a late payment.

Paying Interest: We charge interest on balance transfers and cash advances beginning on the transaction date. We charge interest on purchases unless you pay your entire balance (which includes all purchases, cash advances new and existing balance transfers) by the payment due date each and every month. This includes any balances you transfer pursuant to this offer. If you revolve your balance and decide to take advantage of this promotion offer, all transactions and balances, including any purchases that you make will be charged interest. To avoid interest on purchases you must pay all balances transfers in full by the first payment due date after the balance transfer posts to your account. Please see your Cardmember Agreement for details on how interest accrues.

Reasons we may Decline a Balance Transfer: This offer is subject to credit availability. If your account is closed or your credit line is lowered for any reason after the time your account was selected for this offer, it could affect the available credit on your account and your ability to take advantage of this offer. We reserve the right to conduct a credit review, including obtaining third-party credit reports, to determine your eligibility for this offer. All balance transfer decisions, including decisions to honor balance transfer checks, are made solely at our discretion. Under certain circumstances, including but not limited to failure to maintain your account in good standing and failure to maintain your credit worthiness, we may decline to honor a balance transfer, including a balance transfer check.

Balance transfer transactions, including those made with checks, do not have the same charge back rights as transactions conducted with a credit card.

I would recommend taking the 0% BT and not using the card for purchases until it is paid off, unless you are also under a intro 0% rate on purchases. From the highlighted sentences I would assume they kill your grace period for no interest and charge you current interest on purchases using "Average Daily Balance." I don't see any language of deferred interest just any unpaid portion will start accruing interest at the end of the period.

Maybe some of the more senior members will chime in here.

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 14:24:43 GMT

Well, yeah, if you do a BT and then put purchases on the same account, I can see them charging interest immediately on the portion of the balance that is Purchases. What concerns me is this:

"Paying Interest: We charge interest on balance transfers and cash advances beginning on the transaction date."

I take that to mean that they start deferring interest as soon as the BT is done, but defer it for the promo period.

My idea would be to do the BT and take advantage of the 0% for as long as I can; I would not be putting any purchases on the card, I'd be SD'ing it. It's sort of SD'ed now as it is since the card provides almost no benefits (e.g., rewards, etc.).

I know I won't be able to pay it all in full by the end, but that's ok. The APR on the old card isn't that much different from the standard APR on this card, but I can at least save myself over 12 months' worth of interest. I just don't want to get hit with a huge deferred interest chage 15 months from now, ending up right where I started.

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

leegreen — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 14:32:09 GMT

I think they have to use the term "deferred interest" I feel like what they mean is if somebody else got an offer for a BT at 2.99% their interest would start immediately. I have seen that exact verbiage on all of my cards with respect to BT and CA. I think the offers are written for all.

Also keep your report clean if you are worried and pick up a slate or simplicity when the offer is close to ending.

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 14:42:23 GMT

@leegreen wrote:
I think they have to use the term "deferred interest" I feel like what they mean is if somebody else got an offer for a BT at 2.99% their interest would start immediately. I have seen that exact verbiage on all of my cards with respect to BT and CA. I think the offers are written for all.

Also keep your report clean if you are worried and pick up a slate or simplicity when the offer is close to ending.

I get what you're saying. So you think it's just standard boilerplate verbiage that's there regardless of the promo period interest rate...sort of like a "catch-all".

That is also something I'm considering. My only concern there would be if Chase (in your example) didn't offer me a large-enough CL to transfer the remaining balance over.

But yeah, my plan would be to do the BT, garden the entire time, then a month or so before the promo expire date apply for the Slate (or whatever good BT card is out there) and do another 0% BT. Even accounting for the fee, the interest saved more than makes up for it.

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

leegreen — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 14:42:54 GMT

Yeah I understand the CL issue, you can recon first but there are several cards that offer zero intro rates on balance transfers do you could probably send it to multiple cards.

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 14:52:40 GMT

@leegreen wrote:
Yeah I understand the CL issue, you can recon first but there are several cards that offer zero intro rates on balance transfers do you could probably send it to multiple cards.

Well, thanks for your input and insight. Didn't mean to highjack the OP's thread, but since it's on-topic, guess I'll pull the trigger and do the BT. I'll garden for the next year and then see what I can do with the balance at that point.

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

PedrokiPR — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 17:37:15 GMT

Hi, thanks for everyone replying. I appreciate it. I guess I'll d the transfer and not use the card at all so that it doesn't trigget any APR

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

PedrokiPR — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 05:15:23 GMT

I did not go through with the Transfer. I contacted Customer Service and asked them. This was their reply:

Dear Pedro :

Thank you for contacting us regarding your Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard. We can certainly address your inquiry regarding the balance transfer on your account.

Your annual percentage rate for purchases is Prime + 21.74, currently 24.99%. Balance transfers and cash advances have no grace period and will accrue interest once they have posted to the account. Interest will continue to accrue until that balance has been paid in full. This may mean you will have a residual amount of interest on the statement following the pay off.

We may offer promotional rates regularly. If an offer becomes available, we will notify you directly. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

If you have any other questions and concerns, please reply to this message.

Sincerely,

Customer Service

-----

Just letting people know

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 11:20:53 GMT

@PedrokiPR wrote:
I did not go through with the Transfer. I contacted Customer Service and asked them. This was their reply:

Dear Pedro :

Thank you for contacting us regarding your Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard. We can certainly address your inquiry regarding the balance transfer on your account.

Your annual percentage rate for purchases is Prime + 21.74, currently 24.99%. Balance transfers and cash advances have no grace period and will accrue interest once they have posted to the account. Interest will continue to accrue until that balance has been paid in full. This may mean you will have a residual amount of interest on the statement following the pay off.

We may offer promotional rates regularly. If an offer becomes available, we will notify you directly. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

If you have any other questions and concerns, please reply to this message.

Sincerely,

Customer Service

-----

Just letting people know

As leegree pointed out, though, that's the direct language from most credit card agreements. Things like cash advances ALWAYS have interest accrue from the date the transaction posts to the account. However, I don't think that applies to 0% BT's because they're special offers. They can't give you a 0% BT offer and then start charging you interest right away. At most, it's deferred so you haev until the promo period expires to do something with that balance (e.g., pay it off, transfer it to another 0% card, etc.).

I went ahead and did the BT. I have until February, 2016 to decide. I'm thinking of app'ing for a Slate (or something comparable) when the time comes. Worst-case scenario, I'll shift the Balance back onto the card I originally had it on, which currently has a BT APR of 8.99%. I'll at least have saved a few hundred dollars on interest I didn't have to pay while it's sitting on my Barclay card.

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 10:13:49 GMT

ADVICE NEEDED:

My 15 month 0% APR expires end of October on my Discover Card. 15.99% will kick on first of November with a remaining balance $2,000.

I also have a balance i owe on my Paypal Extras Card accumulating 23.99% APR. But i saw on my Discover Card they are offering me a 3% transfer fee if i want to transfer my balance from my Paypal Card to my Discover Card ($2,000) and pay 0% APR no interest on that for 12 months.

But then i still have the 15.99% i owe on my previous balance on my Discover.

Should i just transfer my Paypal Extras $2,000 and avoid their 23.99% APR and stick with Discovers 15.99% maxing out my Discovers Cards $4,500 limit.

or just open a new account with someone else (Chase Slate, Citi Simplicity, American Express Everyday,) offering me 18 month 0% APR and transfer both my Paypal Extras and Discover It balances on a new card instead ?

Or leave it alone and just pay as i usually do. Will take me 3 months. Then all i have is my Bill Me Later (Paypal Credit) with a balance of $3,000 (19.99% APR) But I won't have enough credit line on my Discover for that but if i get a brand new card somewhere i could possibly do it that way without maxing each other out. Basically its just more time for me to pay and catch up on my payment without being penalize or hit with an APR for taking my time paying off my debt. Then maybe i could start saving up too instead throwing all my money each month back on my cards

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 18:17:53 GMT

If you think you've got a shot at a Slate, I'd do that. That's what I'm planning on doing when my intro apr runs out in 2/2016.

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 18:34:28 GMT

i thought of slate but was questioning about the rewards or if i can product change afterwards to maybe a freedom or just get a normal card because any card you apply will have a 0% intro rate for 1 year or longer but only slate has no fee for balance transfers i think. i was reading Forums about the citi simpility and it seesm citi giving much higher limits than slate. I got a lot more research to do

@Anonymous wrote:
If you think you've got a shot at a Slate, I'd do that. That's what I'm planning on doing when my intro apr runs out in 2/2016.

and slate seems citi giving higher limits so i got a lot more research to do