Amex Balance Transfer for Full SL

Anonymous · ‎09-12-2018

Hello everyone!

I have a $6500 balance on a Chase FU on which the intro 0% APR is set to expire in November. I want to take advantage of the Amex Everyday $0 BT fee and 0% on BT for 15 months so I can get it paid off. I am a little concerned that my SL will not be high enough to BT the whole balance. My question is: will Amex frown upon immediate BT in the amount of my SL?

FWIW, I have 3 HP related to credit cards in the past 2 years(a couple more for an apartment and my internet provider), and have had an Amex BCE since Dec '13 that currently has a $20K limit. Most recent HP was for Disco IT Miles in June, and before that 2 HP last August, so I'm not too concerned about approval.

Thanks!

K-in-Boston · ‎09-12-2018

Amex will be fine with the BT. It's important to note that Amex caps BTs at the lower of 75% of your credit line or $7500. If you already have a $20k BCE, you should be able to move some of that limit over to it if the SL is too low. One thing I would caution is that having a BCE and an ED is not really a good pairing; one earns cash back and the other earns Membership Rewards, and neither can be changed to a product outside of their card family. Alternately, consider the Bank of America BankAmericard or Chase Slate. Both offer introductory 0%/$0 BT, and both can be changed to any other core credit card type.

ETA: And of course I noticed the balance was on your CFU, so Slate would not be a good candidate in your case since lenders do not process BTs from other accounts you have with them.

HeavenOhio · ‎09-12-2018

The OP wants to transfer from a Chase card, so in this case, the Slate won't help.

EDIT: I see the post above caught that in an edit.

K-in-Boston · ‎09-12-2018

Ha! My edit beat your correction.

Edit: Yes, it did. But only by seconds.

Anonymous · ‎09-12-2018

@K-in-Boston wrote:
Amex will be fine with the BT. It's important to note that Amex caps BTs at the lower of 75% of your credit line or $7500. If you already have a $20k BCE, you should be able to move some of that limit over to it if the SL is too low. One thing I would caution is that having a BCE and an ED is not really a good pairing; one earns cash back and the other earns Membership Rewards, and neither can be changed to a product outside of their card family. Alternately, consider the Bank of America BankAmericard or Chase Slate. Both offer introductory 0%/$0 BT, and both can be changed to any other core credit card type.

ETA: And of course I noticed the balance was on your CFU, so Slate would not be a good candidate in your case since lenders do not process BTs from other accounts you have with them.

Thank you, this is great info. I wasn't wild about the BCE - ED combination myself, but I wasn't aware of the BankAmericard or Slate offers. Does BofA have BT caps similar to the 75%/$7500 Amex limit? I can't find anything to that effect but I didn't see it when researching the ED offer either.

As an aside, I don't think moving part of my CL would be an option if I went the ED route. To get the 0%/$0 offer you must initiate the BT within 60 days and I read either on here or on Amex's site that you cannot move CL to a card you have had for less than 60 days.

Anonymous · ‎09-12-2018

I have the Americard and when I saw the terms and conditions it didn’t say of a cap except it cannot exceed your available limit and have room for the fee if applicable. You can see if you’re pre qualified if you have fix interest rate. I know this did work because when I originally tried it it had a range and it was denied and when I had a fix it was approved instantly. Good luck!

K-in-Boston · ‎09-12-2018

On the Rates and Fees page on the Amex ED, scroll down to Balance Transfers:
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/card-application/apply/member/terms/amex-everyday-cr...

BoA has no limit that I am aware of. When I was last approved for the BankAmericard, the analyst was trying to get me to use the entire $12k starting line.

Moving limits is YMMV. The dogma used to be that the donor and receiving cards needed to be 12 months old. I moved $8k immediately to my SPG card when I opened it last year. DW moved $8k from her Delta Gold card within weeks of opening it, and another few thousand a few months back when it was around 7 months old.

Anonymous · ‎09-12-2018

I can confirm the 60 day thing is YMMW.

My DW had a BCE with $25,000, applied for an ED and got $1000. She hopped on chat and asked to move $9000 to the ED and the limit did not show until card was activated but as soon as it did we did a BT for $7500. No problem

Anonymous · ‎09-12-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
I have the Americard and when I saw the terms and conditions it didn’t say of a cap except it cannot exceed your available limit and have room for the fee if applicable. You can see if you’re pre qualified if you have fix interest rate. I know this did work because when I originally tried it it had a range and it was denied and when I had a fix it was approved instantly. Good luck!

More of what matters to you

0% Intro APR for 15 billing cycles on purchases and any balance transfers made in the first 60 days†
After that, a variable APR that’s currently 14.74-24.74% on purchases and balance transfers

Above is copy and pasted from the bottom of the BankAmericard pre-qual offer, so I'm feeling pretty uncertain. Given that at least a few people have had success with the pre-60-day CL transfer with Amex, I'm kind of leaning in that direction because it seems like the best bet for covering the whole $6500. I did get my most recent CLI from Amex in the past few months - around June, if that is at all relevant.

My SL's in the past 2 years were $4500 and $2000 from Chase and Disco, so I'm not wildly confident in getting a $6500 SL anywhere. Amex ED is not useful to me beyond the BT, but I'd really like to avoid paying interest if at all possible.