Amex now has $5,000 balance transfer limit

[FlaDude]

I posted a couple of weeks ago (https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Approvals/Amex-ED-approved-but-with-low-BT-limit/td-p/5...) that I got approved for an ED card with a $19.3 CL, but only a $5k BT limit. My initial BTs went through so I called about getting an increase on the BT limit and the agent said that Amex now has a $5k BT limit on all cards (per account, you can have more than one account totalling more than 5k). She offered to apply for a different card, but ED is the only one with no transfer fee, and I've got plenty of BT offers on existing cards with a 3% fee so I declined. I know that one agent saying something doesn't definitively mean that it is true, but wanted to give a heads up and also see if anybody else can confirm or refute this.

This page:

https://www.comparecards.com/blog/how-to-balance-transfer-with-american-express/

is about a year old and says that Amex has a $7.5 BT limit so if the change is real, it's happened since then.

[AverageJoesCredit]

If true, maybe they dont want to be left holding the bag if someone doesnt pay it back. Seems silly to me to cap a bt but i guess anything is possible but in all honesty, your post was the only one i can recall about capped bt so not alot of data to go on

[Anonymous]

No biggie, Discover allows me to use my whole CL for BTs. 

[Anonymous]

Not surprised. Amex likes transactors, not revolvers. 

[Anonymous]

I don't know what AMEX's official stance on credit limit allowance is for balance transfers, but when I opened my SPG Luxury Card account last week I was given a balance transfer offer up to $5K as well versus a $14.9K SL.  This was my 4th revolver and I do not recall if my previous cards had balance transfer offers or restrictions.

[Anonymous]

Maybe Amex would rather push their POT verus BTs? They do seem to heavily promote the feature, as I constantly get emails, mailers and Amex Offers to use POT w/special rate for vactions etc. 

The want you to "charge" X amount to capture swipe fees, then roll that balance into POT so they can then charge you a fee to carry it.

Yep, sounds like they prefer transactors to me. Especially with the Revolvers far outnumbering their Charge Cards these days.

Though I'm not sure why it would matter one way or the other, whether the balance is a charge or BT. They will charge you a transfer fee on the BT, which is prety close to what the swipe fee is.

[FlaDude]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Though I'm not sure why it would matter one way or the other, whether the balance is a charge or BT. They will charge you a transfer fee on the BT, which is prety close to what the swipe fee is.

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The ED card is one of the few cards with no BT fee which is why I really wanted it. I've got plenty of offers on existing cards to BT with a 3 or 4% fee so the main reason I app'ed for this one was to avoid the fee.

[K-in-Boston]

Interesting. Last time I had a BT with them, the maximum was specifically stated as 75% of the credit line with no dollar value attached.

[Anonymous]

Same here.

Though idealy $5K should be the max anyone should BT anyways, it's too easy to move these amounts around and around and never truly pay them off. Hence just delaying the inevitable. If one's goal is to pay off within that promo period, fiine. But I read a lot of threads of people being caught in a cycle of BTs, and needing to BT again in 12 months. Causing a multiude of problems really. 

BT's only demenstrate your ability to juggle, not pay your debt back. I know someone who does this year after year, and I feel all it does it hurt his utilization. And possibly other factors. idk

I'm guenuinely curious how this behavior affects FICO if at all.

[FlaDude]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Same here.

Though idealy $5K should be the max anyone should BT anyways, it's too easy to move these amounts around and around and never truly pay them off. Hence just delaying the inevitable. If one's goal is to pay off within that promo period, fiine. But I read a lot of threads of people being caught in a cycle of BTs, and needing to BT again in 12 months. Causing a multiude of problems really. 

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Certainly perpetual BTs are less than ideal. I've still got about $50k of debt, down from 65k about a year and a half ago. During that time I've gone from paying almost $1k/month in interest to around $200 now so the rate of balance reduction is picking up. About 2/3 of that debt has been refi'ed to fixed period loans at 6%-7%, but I've still got way more than $5k on %0 BTs, and expect to do another round of BT Spring 2020 since I expect it to take another two years or so to be substantially out of debt.

As far as FICO, mine has gone up about 80 points in the past 6 months since I BT'ed some of my balance to cards in my wife's name, added 30k of total CL, and gone from having several of my cards at over 90% to now having none over 50%.