topic Re: Balance Transfer Question in General Credit Topics

Balance Transfer Question

Tonya-E — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 16:21:04 GMT

I am wondering if anyone has experienced an initial hit to their credit because of a balance transfer and if so how many points? My score only dropped a point for the inquiry and I realize it will probably drop another few points for the new account. This was only my second inq. in a year so it didn't really drop much. And I don't expect a big ding to my account history as my average account age won't be dropping much with the new account.

I recently did a balance transfer with 0% APR for 15 months. My statement just dropped showing the balance transfers and fees owed on the new card. However, my other credit accounts do not update until later in the month. My worry is that initially it will look like I owe double on the accounts because the now zero accounts will not update prior to the new card showing up. I have monitoring and have not received a notification that the new card has shown up yet but I wanted to see what others have experienced in this situation. Please note, I will not be closing my old accounts, just using them sparingly to keep them active. I also will not be charging any items on the BT card until the balance is paid in full. I am just asking this question because the timing and double balances will take me from a 28% utilization to around 33% until the old acounts update around the 24th or 25th of the month.

Thanks in advance for your help!

EQ - 736

TU - 738

EX - 752

Re: Balance Transfer Question

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 19:34:01 GMT

The opposite happened to me on a recent balance transfer to a 0% card. I already had this card, and called the company to confirm that they would not do a hard inquiry. Certainly, if I'd been applying to a new card that would be an inquiry.

So, after going through with the transfer, my old card showed the new 0 balance, while the 0% card did not show the transfer for a month. That made it look like the sum of money transferred had been paid off. So, my scores skyrocketed.

Then, when the amount showed up on the 0% card, they went down again.

Long and short, yes, it is possible that you could have an abnormally high utilization reported for a while. If you're planning to seek a loan, then you'll need to wait until all of the correct balances are reported.

I'm just glad that these scores don't take history of utilization into account. History in lots of other things. But, as I understand things, the models look at utilization at that snapshot in time.

Re: Balance Transfer Question

Tonya-E — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 23:17:23 GMT

Ah ok. I was thinking it could happen. It just concerns me after all the horror stories I have read up here. I have read about changes in your score causing current credit providers to cancel accounts on you and I didn't know if the initial drop in my score would cause that to happen. However, I guess that is price you pay to seek new credit. I don't plan on seeking a loan or anything in the near future so I am not worried about that. I just don't want t cause any additional changes that may lead to other negative things happening.

Thank you so much for responding!