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Balance Transfer Apocalypse

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K-in-Boston
Credit Mentor

Re: Balance Transfer: Ethical Sneaky Trick?


@Anonymous wrote:

Currently I have the following issuers allowing me to do balance transfers:

Discover and Citi.

 

Citi allows BT into checking accounts...

But Discover is only allowing balance transfers to creditor accounts.

 

So what if I...

1. Did a City BT into my checking for cash...

2. Then did a discover BT to hold the City BT debt...

3. Then did a 2nd City BT for more cash?

 

Is this a brilliant loophole or am I missing something important that makes this a bad idea?

 

(If I sound like a reckless consumer, I'm not. I've been using BTs as easy/cheap money to buy discounted ad inventory. Hence my obsession with finding new BTs that deposit cash.)


Seems like it certainly carries some risk.  Perhaps Discover has already decided there is some risk since you cannot transfer to checking?  I've never not seen that option.  There is also a matter of fees for doing two back-to-back transfers with what is at least a 3% upfront fee for each one.  Some Amex business cards have bonus categories for advertising; have you considered just getting one of those?

Message 21 of 44
tcbofade
Super Contributor

Re: Balance Transfer: Ethical Sneaky Trick?

@K-in-Boston, I think with Discover that balance transfer options ARE profile dependent.

 

I have NEVER had the direct to checking option, but DW ALWAYS has it...

 

...and we have similar profiles...  Smiley Tongue

 

Discover is just weird. 

02/01/24 Fico 8: EX 757, EQ 803, TU 783.
Fico 9: EX 760 12/16/23, EQ 790 02/04/24, TU No idea.

Zero percent financing is where the devil lives...
Message 22 of 44
pete19103
New Contributor

Re: Balance Transfer Apocalypse


@Anonymous wrote:

It looks like many credit card issuers have removed the option for Balance Transfers.

 

For people who are looking for Balance Transfers directly into yor checking accounts... which cards do you recommend?

 

I'm currently looking at:

- BB&T

- BMO Harris

- US Bank

- HSBC

 

But do they allow you to BT into your checking account for cash?

 

I can't go with the major banks because I've got a lot of those cards from each issuer. 

My TU has (1) inquiry and EQ has (4) inquiries... hence why I am looking at the cards above.

My EX has (9) inquiries.


One way to get around that is to do a BT to a card with no(or very low) balance, then once it posts ask that issuer to send you a check for the credit balance on your credit card which you can then deposit into your checking account.   

  I got the HSBC Cash Rewards about 2 years ago(back when they had a nice SUB)  and they sent me BT checks when I opened the account but all later BT offers had to be done online, with no checks issued.  Of course that was pre-virus so I dont know what they do now.   You may also want to check out some credit unions if you already have cards with the major issuers.

Message 23 of 44
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Balance Transfer Apocalypse


@pete19103 wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

It looks like many credit card issuers have removed the option for Balance Transfers.

 

For people who are looking for Balance Transfers directly into yor checking accounts... which cards do you recommend?

 

I'm currently looking at:

- BB&T

- BMO Harris

- US Bank

- HSBC

 

But do they allow you to BT into your checking account for cash?

 

I can't go with the major banks because I've got a lot of those cards from each issuer. 

My TU has (1) inquiry and EQ has (4) inquiries... hence why I am looking at the cards above.

My EX has (9) inquiries.


One way to get around that is to do a BT to a card with no(or very low) balance, then once it posts ask that issuer to send you a check for the credit balance on your credit card which you can then deposit into your checking account.   

  I got the HSBC Cash Rewards about 2 years ago(back when they had a nice SUB)  and they sent me BT checks when I opened the account but all later BT offers had to be done online, with no checks issued.  Of course that was pre-virus so I dont know what they do now.   You may also want to check out some credit unions if you already have cards with the major issuers.


Be careful doing this. Banks aren't stupid. They know exactly what someone did when they send a check in from a bank they have never used before and then a balance pops up on the credit card from that lender. It's really easy to connect the dots and figure out when a large credit balance happens. 

Message 24 of 44
IrishPM
Frequent Contributor

Re: Balance Transfer Apocalypse

My experience has been Citi, Bank of American and Barclays offer the "deposit to checking account" feature for balance transfers. However, I've noticed in the past 4 to 5 months that the feature has been removed from my online accounts. Back in the good old days, I was able to transfer cash into my checking account (no balance transfer fee), pay off all of my monthly bills on a single day (online bill payment to other creditors) and pay off the balance transfer at the end of the month. This allowed me to budget a month ahead of time and never worry about being late. I used to get balance transfer checks in the mail several times per month but that's all dried up. 

Message 25 of 44
joltdude
Senior Contributor

Re: Balance Transfer: Ethical Sneaky Trick?

I was going to say.. I have *never* had the direct to checking option with Miss Disco.. She is quite good to me but she wont do that for some reason... She is still offering BTs at least to my profile but i already have one there... and not gonna stack them.. esp since the fee is a bit high... 

 

-J

 

Message 26 of 44
tcbofade
Super Contributor

Re: Balance Transfer: Ethical Sneaky Trick?

Miss Disco DOES offer the BT into checking account for DW, but does NOT offer it for me.

 

Profile dependant, I suppose...

02/01/24 Fico 8: EX 757, EQ 803, TU 783.
Fico 9: EX 760 12/16/23, EQ 790 02/04/24, TU No idea.

Zero percent financing is where the devil lives...
Message 27 of 44
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Balance Transfer: Ethical Sneaky Trick?

Finally got a balance transfer offer again. I understood why chase, citi, capital one and discover stopped. I got 3 new credit cards in one week in April. I got 2 checks from Penfed  in mail today 0% for 12 months with 3% transfer fee or 0.99% for 18 months with 3% transfer fee.

Message 28 of 44
Rogue46
Established Contributor

Re: Balance Transfer: Ethical Sneaky Trick?

@Anonymous 

I received the same BT offers in the mail from PenFed yesterday as well





Message 29 of 44
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Balance Transfer Apocalypse


@K-in-Boston wrote:

There is an existing thread for existing cardholders; for every person who says that Lender X has removed all of their BT options, there are 2 who have offers from the same lender.  It's profile-dependent.

 

As for new cards, to the best of my knowledge, the only lenders that offer direct-to-checking balance transfers are Bank of America, Citi, and Discover.  Of course convenience checks can always be deposited.


There is an element of survivor bias to those who feel the impulse to share their own experience, especially when it disproves the theory of the OP. Perhaps stronger than those who looked in their "Offers for you" (or equivalent) and found nothing. These individuals who also found nothing may have NEVER had anything in their prequalified offers. Nothing lost. 

 

There is also the broadcast bias of a single member's thread being new, and reaching the top of the pile for a while. It's got lots of eyeballs and I'm sure many people will respond, too. But I also don't discount the very real possibility that OP's credit profile may have in fact NOT changed since last month, or since last time the offending bank pulled a periodic SP. 

Message 30 of 44
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