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Balance Transfer dilema

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Kevin7180
Established Member

Balance Transfer dilema

 

I have 3 CC's totalling 16900 of available credit. One of the cards is basically  maxed out (6900 bal, 7000 limit). The other two are 0 balance.

 

One of my other cards has a 7800 limit, and I could do a balance transfer @ 1.99 % for 18 months.. plus a fee. This would be from the 13.99% I'm paying now.

 

My question is since I'm going to be applying for a home loan here soon, will it boost m credit score to transfer the balance onto this card and pay the fee? I get that I would be saving on interest, but I've had that balance high for several years now. So will paying it off in the eyes of the CB's immediately raise my score since the lengthy level of debt for that account will then be gone?

 

Thanks.....

 

 

Message 1 of 5
4 REPLIES 4
JayRizzo
Established Contributor

Re: Balance Transfer dilema

Hmmmm... If I read this right, technically you're not doing anything special to raise your credit score since all you're doing is shuffling money from one card to another in the eyes of the CB.  Your overall utilization will still be the same.  True that you'll save interest by reducing your balance from one card, but until you actually pay to reduce your overall utilization -- nothing will change.  And be extra careful trying to do anything to your report while planning an application for a loan, etc.

Message 2 of 5
IOBA
Senior Contributor

Re: Balance Transfer dilema

Agreed.  

 

Another thing to note, sometimes the ccc will pull your credit before they give final approval of  the BT you want to do.   That inquiry could be coded as soft or hard.   If you are preparing for a mortgage, be careful.

 

If it were me, I would look at 13.99 compared to 1.99 plus fee.   The fee is usually a percentage of the BT.  So say 5%.   This is rough math, but now your rate would be 6.99.  Almost 1/2 of what it was.   

 

For FICO purposes, your score may drop a little if you do the BT -- there might be a credit pull and your overall debt INCREASES with the BT fee added to your balance.

 

Another thing to note, some banks do not include the BT fee for the lower interest rate.  CITI does not.  So with them, if you do a BT, you have to pay the minimum due PLUS the BT fee in full BEFORE  the due date.  And they don't verbally tell you.  It's in small print.   (I read the print, then called to verify I understood correctly.)    Sneaky of them...   If your bank does not include the fee at the lower rate, you have now effectively boosted your interest rate from 6.99 to ???

 

Another thing to consider is the ease of making a payment.  Which creditor is easier to get to?   We had had a loan with our cu at 5.99% (personal loan, unsecured).   NFCU came out with a cc 1.99 or 2.99% BT with no fee.  Sounded great!  I thought I would be saving some interest.   I didn't do it though because I could get to my bank and transfer online funds to my bank to make extra pymts on the loan easily.  I could not get to NFCU with any ease.  My bank acknowledged online transfer from other banks the next day; NFCU took two days to acknowledge.   So for me, in my case, it was easier to pay my lender directly.   And because it was easy to make extra pymts, I ended up paying it off 56 months early.   The savings in interest from ease/convenience was ultimately the cheaper way to go.

 

Just things to consider when looking at an attractive BT.  Smiley Happy

Message 3 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Balance Transfer dilema

I don't think the BT will help your score.  I've read in a few places that spreading your balances among multiple cards is better than having one card maxed and the others at 0.  However in your case you are just moving the balance for a card with a 7000 limit to one with a 7800 limit (98% util to 88% util).  Not much of a change.  So from a scoring perspective it's probably not worth the fees....from a monthly payment perspective it might be worth it if you can get enough paid off before the APR jumps when the 18 month is over.

Message 4 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Balance Transfer dilema


@IOBA wrote:

 

If it were me, I would look at 13.99 compared to 1.99 plus fee.   The fee is usually a percentage of the BT.  So say 5%.   This is rough math, but now your rate would be 6.99.  Almost 1/2 of what it was.   


That math won't cut it.  This would only apply (roughly, not exact) if the BT were paid off in exactly one year.  Any time longer than a year, and the equivalent APR with the fee added in continues to drop, assuming the 1.99% offer is for the life of the balance.

 

 

FICO score doesn't factor in how long you have carried a balance.  So your notion that paying off a balance you've had for a while holds no water.  One place this could help is in the utilization department, but the effect will be minimal.

 

Right now, you have $6900 / 7000 on the card, which is 98.6% utilization, yikes!

 

If you transfer the balance, you'll have $6900 / 7800, which is still 88%, but then you add on the BT fee, assuming its at least 3%, which would be $207.  Now, $7107 / 7800 is 91.1%

 

So you go from 98.6% to 91.1%

 

This would only be beneficial if there is a score increase somewhere in between there, like 95%.  You wouldn't be able to get it below 90%.  I don't know the different utilization thresholds, maybe someone else can chime in, but it looks like it would not be worth it, because it will have minimal impact on your credit score.  Now, depending on how long your APR promo is for, and how long you anticipate paying on the balance, it may be worth it financially, but a cost benefit analysis is a whole other monster.  I'd need a spreadsheet for that Smiley Wink

Message 5 of 5
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