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0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

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PedrokiPR
Valued Member

0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

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

Message 1 of 18
17 REPLIES 17
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question


@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.

Message 2 of 18
leegreen
Frequent Contributor

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question


@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.

06/26/2014 - Gardening until 7/1/15
NFCU NavCheck 15k, cashRewards VS 14k, nRewards 14k
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Message 3 of 18
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question


@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.

Message 4 of 18
leegreen
Frequent Contributor

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

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.

06/26/2014 - Gardening until 7/1/15
NFCU NavCheck 15k, cashRewards VS 14k, nRewards 14k
Amex BCE 15k, CapOne Quicksilver MC 3k, USAA Platinum MC 2k, Discover It 1k
Jared 5.1K, Zales 5k, Lowe's 15k, Home Depot 5k
Message 5 of 18
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question


@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.

 

Message 6 of 18
leegreen
Frequent Contributor

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question


@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. 

06/26/2014 - Gardening until 7/1/15
NFCU NavCheck 15k, cashRewards VS 14k, nRewards 14k
Amex BCE 15k, CapOne Quicksilver MC 3k, USAA Platinum MC 2k, Discover It 1k
Jared 5.1K, Zales 5k, Lowe's 15k, Home Depot 5k
Message 7 of 18
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

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.

Message 8 of 18
leegreen
Frequent Contributor

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question

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.
06/26/2014 - Gardening until 7/1/15
NFCU NavCheck 15k, cashRewards VS 14k, nRewards 14k
Amex BCE 15k, CapOne Quicksilver MC 3k, USAA Platinum MC 2k, Discover It 1k
Jared 5.1K, Zales 5k, Lowe's 15k, Home Depot 5k
Message 9 of 18
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 0% Balance Transfer Intro Question


@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.

Message 10 of 18
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