Balance Transfers & Qualifying

[Anonymous]

Can someone please explain to me how a credit card company looks at an individual's credit score AND utilization, when the individual is applying for a new card with the intent of transferring existing balances to a newer, higher limit card? In reading thru the forum archives I'm coming across stories where people with decent scores are being denied by a CC company due to too high of a utilization, while I'm also seeing where people are being approved with pretty much the same scores and similar CR's.

I know the market is different now than it was just a few years ago, but if a person is attempting to increase their overall CL to reduce their Utilization, then the actual CC company is either taking into account what the persons Utilization would be with the new card, or they are not and are just basing their creditworthyness on their current CR information.

Could I get some insight on this process, please?

::edited for spelling::

[cdtotten]

Just because a card has a balance transfer feature, that is not a deciding factor in your approval for a card. Each company has different criteria, but they are all usually based on your fico score, your utilization, your AAoA, your recent hard pulls, and past history on credit lines. High utilization is a risk, and they may not want you to transfer that risk over to them from another lender. Ironically, the best time to get a new CC with a high limit and good BT offers is usually when you have extremely low utilization and high credit limits already.

So in short, to answer your question, no... credit card companies do not consider what your new utilization would be with their card included. They make a decision on approval based on your current credit situation, and go from there.