Balance Transfer Advice Needed

[Taurus22]

So I am a returning forum member, but forgot my password, so I've started under a new email.

Current Credit situation:

Salary: 52k+    Debt/Income ratio 28%(CTI)

FICO score: 770

AAoA: 3

UT%:  23% current ; perfect credit payment history

Inquiries: 2 (dropping off in July 2020)

7 total accounts : 5 active/2 closed

Auto loan started in July 2018 (this accrued the 2 inquiries and the recent drop in AAoA.)

Citi Double Cash card (2015) 4,000CL  - Clean

Discover It (2015) 8,000CL - $3,300 balance

Personal bank Visa card (2013) - 2,500CL - Clean (opened as secured to start credit, now unsecured)

Overdraft Protection Line of Credit 5,000CL - Clean (but for some reason this does not apply to overall CL)

Overall Total CL: 14,500

(The Discover balance you see is under a 12 mth 0% APR promotion which ends 1st of June 2019.)

I would like to do a Balance Transfer in May from the Discover to a new promotional card, but I want the new card to have some value to me after the BT promotion, as a rewards card. I've narrowed my choices down to either the Chase Freedom Unlimited or the CapOne SavorOne. Both offer a $150 cashback bonus and 15 mth 0% APR for BT and Purchases.

I was leaning to the CapOne Savor for the 3% dining cashback, because the Chase (1.5%CB) is no better than my Citi Double Cash (2%CB), but after doing some reading I keep seeing people mention that it is good to be "in with" Chase, for whatever reason. Can anyone clarify this and...why?

Regardless, my biggest issue is to have the best opportunity to get a high starting limit for the BT.

Finally, I have also read that American Express tends to start with higher SL and also gives larger CL increase jumps. Personally, I have no use for AmEx as they seem to be very limited, but in the interest of raising my overall CL total, I thought that this might be a good addition as well, just as a sock-drawer card. As I did with the Citi DC card and the Discover.....I applied for both within an hour of each other so the 2nd creditor would not yet see the 1st creditor and essentially clumped both inquiries together to increase chances of acceptance. Obviously, I will be gardening over the next 2 years anyway as I work off the BT so the credit hit for the AAoA for 2 new cards shouldn't drop me below 700 I wouldn't think, and it seems the overall CL increase would benefit me long-term.

So, I'm looking for advice:  Chase Freedom Unlimited or CapOne SavorOne for best chance at high SL for BT?  And would it be advisable to do a cluster application with the "winner" and the AmEx EveryDay card? Anything else I might be over-looking?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Welcome back to the forums, and for sharing some information about what you have going on. This helps us, and generally a better response from someone like me. 

You're FICO score is wonderful, and your DTI is under thirty percent which is typically a loan writing. Credit cards come with a high interest rate. I currently have the DISCOVER IT card as well, and I actually benefited from a balance transfer they had. I took advantage of that offer as well. 

DSVR offers some of the best balance transfers I have seen. Typically a bank card comes with a 0 % Transfer fee for moving debt around, consult you're bank, and see if you can move it to that card then do a Discover balance transfer? I did this, and I have a 4.99% rate on $2,500 for 18 months. 

I would personally call CITI, and ask for a balance transfer offer stating you need to pay down exisiting debt, and you do not want to open another card. Just by asking you may be suprised with a nice offer in you're conversation. 

CITI has the best balance transfer option currently on the market. Chase offers a great offer as well. 

Have you consulted a local credit union to issue you a personal loan? It could diversify you're accounts, and loans are typically better looking on you're report as they are installment. I would first call the cards you use, and see if they can you anything at all. 

Hope this helps 

-Iceywarm

[Taurus22]

Thanks for the response Iceywarm.

Honestly, the point of doing this is to avoid any interest at all. I had never had any credit at all until I started building in 2013 and since that time I have never paid a dime of interest on credit cards. I pay in full every month. In this circumstance I have had to take advantage of Discover's promotion due to unexpected expenses and the only reason I did was due to the interest-free for 12 months. Otherwise, it would not exist at all.

The 2nd point is to increase my overall CL. By doing so, this would lower my overall UT% and give me room above and beyond the BT to actually use my (clean) Discover again daily without pushing my UT% too much.

To do this, it would have to be a 0% BT promotion and since I am going to have to do this anyway, I thought it might be beneficial to go ahead and take advantage of AmEx's higher limits to achieve the 2nd point.

[Kforce]

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@Taurus22 wrote:

So, I'm looking for advice:

Anything else I might be over-looking?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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Have no opinion as to Chase or CapOne as a better BT card. (Never used a BT)

All your other cards are cash back and the EveryDay is a points card.

(Need to check and be sure it is good to start splitting reward across different programs)

I would consider the  "Bank of the West Cash Back Master Card".  This was my highest starting limit card.  Soft-pull CL increases,  3% cashback in (Gas, Grocery, Fast-Food, and Restaurant). All with no annual fee. Take a look and see if you live in one of the 19  qualifying states.  Just hit apply for card and it will list the states before you start entering any personal info.  This card with it's 3% in 4 categories along with a 2% general spend card are my two most used cards and my 2 highest at rewards. This will pair with your Double Cash very well.

[AverageJoesCredit]

I just want to add clumping apps minutes or hours spart makes no difference if the 2 creditors pull same bureau. The second will see the first hp . There is no hiding hps nor does having 2 hps from 2 separate lenders within same time csncel out. Hps are ususlly instant. Just dont want you thinking you can pull a fastone on a lender lol. If they pull 2 separate bureaus, ok for the moment but many lenders, especially Chase snd Sir Barclays sp new accounts very close from approval to check that very behavior.

[AverageJoesCredit]

Ps, you might contact @UncleB or another mod to see if they can help you restore your original useename if you like

[Taurus22]

Thanks KForce.

Like I say, the purpose of the AmEx EveryDay wouldn't really be for cashback or points, I really wouldn't use the card much, if at all. But from what I've read, AmEx simply gives higher CL's and increases which would buffer my overall CL and lower my UT%. The only reason I brought that up in my query was to suggest piggybacking it since I'm already going to be getting a new BT card......to cluster the two applications solely for the benefit of the CL increase AmEx offers. The inquiries would fall off in 2 years at the same time which is good.

My biggest concern again is really getting the highest CL for the BT card, (whether that be the Chase or the CapOne).  Just hoping someone out there who maybe has both could toss me some info to which would give the higher chance of high CL, and any words of caution toward either of them.  The CapOne Savor would benefit me the most AFTER the BT period ends, but I've read a couple people mentioning there is some benefit to having a Chase card in your mix and I'm curious about that.

C'mon you credit veterans......somebody out there has experience with both. Help me out here...

[UncleB]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Ps, you might contact @UncleB or another mod to see if they can help you restore your original useename if you like

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+1

@Taurus22 I've sent you a PM. 

[AverageJoesCredit]

Op probably not going to like me tonight lol but for sure there really is no true way to predict a high sl for a bt card. Chase is known for high limits to certain individuals but not all while Cap One is hit or miss imo. Their Venture card often rewards 30k limits but not sure if it has bt option.

[Taurus22]

AverageJoe , thanks for the responses.

I do understand there's no tell-tell way of knowing until you apply. I was hoping with my income, credit score/history, debt/income ratio there would be enough info to assume a guess based on what others may have received.  Also, my definition of "high SL" would really be about 5k, whereas someone else might consider 10k high. Essentially, I need about that....5k SL. That would be confortable for me. But that's where I wonder - does my income/debt ratio warrant that level of CL?