Balance transfer across multiple cards

[TTLongNeck]

I’ve gotten a few emails for balance transfers and I’m thinking about moving things around to take advantage of lower interest rates. I have 3 “active” cards that I either pay the balance monthly or am in the process of using the snowball method to pay off. 

1. Navy Federal More Rewards AMEX - Balance $-52.75 (accidentally overpaid), Limit $5500, APR 16.99%
2. Bank of America Customizable Cash Rewards - Balance $1450, Limit $7000, APR 20.99%
3. Chase Southwest Rewards Priority - Balance $5391, Limit $6000, APR 15.99%

Navy Fed offers no balance transfer fees and is my lowest interest card. I plan on transferring the $1400 BOA balance to my Navy Fed account. (From 20.99% —> 16.99)

I would then transfer the $5300 Chase balance to BOA. Although the interest is pretty high on the BOA (I actually had no idea. I’m certain they raised it in the past couple years) there is a 0% APR balance transfer offer available this month. So That $5300 would go from 15.99% —> 0%. There is a 4% fee (~$215)

I intend to continue using the snowball method and pay the AMEX off in ~2 months and then attack the BOA.

I’ve never done a balance transfer before. Does this plan make sense? Are there any restrictions to balance transfers that I’m overlooking? I’d also like to do a CLI on the BOA Cash Rewards. When would be the best time to do that? I’m thinking right before I do the balance transfer.

[NRB525]

In general, yes this makes sense. You are transferring between different banks, so the process of the balance transfers will work fine.

Where you want to be strategic about this, is avoiding overloading one card with too much utilization on a BT, if you can avoid it. 

Moving all the BofA to AMEX, no problem.

When transferring from the Chase, to Bank of America, nothing says you have to move the entire amount. Since the limit on the BofA is only $7k, maybe moving $4k makes more sense, to get the 0% APR for a while. That's still going to be over 50% of your limit, but it saves fees if you are taking several months to pay that portion down. You could then focus on the Chase card, to pay that one down first.

And are you certain there are no other NFCU BT offers, with a fee and 0% APR? It's early in the year, and I thought NFCU ( along with BECU ) was offering special BT rates? If there's a better NFCU BT offer, then move more from Chase to NFCU.

As to the timing of the BofA CLI Request, it might be best to do that now, while the balance is lower.

Any idea how long you need to wait to ask for a NFCU CLI?

[SouthJamaica]

---

@TTLongNeck wrote:

I’ve gotten a few emails for balance transfers and I’m thinking about moving things around to take advantage of lower interest rates. I have 3 “active” cards that I either pay the balance monthly or am in the process of using the snowball method to pay off. 

1. Navy Federal More Rewards AMEX - Balance $-52.75 (accidentally overpaid), Limit $5500, APR 16.99%
2. Bank of America Customizable Cash Rewards - Balance $1450, Limit $7000, APR 20.99%
3. Chase Southwest Rewards Priority - Balance $5391, Limit $6000, APR 15.99%

Navy Fed offers no balance transfer fees and is my lowest interest card. I plan on transferring the $1400 BOA balance to my Navy Fed account. (From 20.99% —> 16.99)

I would then transfer the $5300 Chase balance to BOA. Although the interest is pretty high on the BOA (I actually had no idea. I’m certain they raised it in the past couple years) there is a 0% APR balance transfer offer available this month. So That $5300 would go from 15.99% —> 0%. There is a 4% fee (~$215)

I intend to continue using the snowball method and pay the AMEX off in ~2 months and then attack the BOA.

I’ve never done a balance transfer before. Does this plan make sense? Are there any restrictions to balance transfers that I’m overlooking? I’d also like to do a CLI on the BOA Cash Rewards. When would be the best time to do that? I’m thinking right before I do the balance transfer.

---

I would transfer the BOA balance and $1200 of Chase balance to Navy, and transfer $3300 of Chase balance to BOA on 0% BT offer.

That way no account is in the 50% or greater utilization category.

[tcbofade]

Assuming that your NFCU card is greater than six months old, you could apply for another card (Platinum?) from NFCU, get a higher credit line, AND a zero fee, zero percent APR balance transfer for twelve months....

[Kforce]

---

@TTLongNeck wrote:

1. Navy Federal More Rewards AMEX - Balance $-52.75 (accidentally overpaid), Limit $5500, APR 16.99%
2. Bank of America Customizable Cash Rewards - Balance $1450, Limit $7000, APR 20.99%
3. Chase Southwest Rewards Priority - Balance $5391, Limit $6000, APR 15.99%

Navy Fed offers no balance transfer fees and is my lowest interest card. I plan on transferring the $1400 BOA balance to my Navy Fed account. (From 20.99% —> 16.99)

As @NRB525  said check Navy for current offers, they have been giving some 2.99 for 12 or 18 month offers.

If eligible ask for CL increase before the BT

I would then transfer the $5300 Chase balance to BOA. Although the interest is pretty high on the BOA (I actually had no idea. I’m certain they raised it in the past couple years) there is a 0% APR balance transfer offer available this month. So That $5300 would go from 15.99% —> 0%. There is a 4% fee (~$215)

I would look at my budget and not transfer any more than I was sure I could pay off over the 0% promo. This card has the highest interest, so be sure.  Also as @NRB525 said don't overload the utilization on this card.

I intend to continue using the snowball method and pay the AMEX off in ~2 months and then attack the BOA.

I would pay off high interest first and then move down. This is where you need to do some math for your budget and not move debt where you can't pay it off in time.  Knowing how much money you have for all card payments and current minimum payment amounts would help with members giving better $ amounts to move and not get you in high interest trouble in 12 months.

Go for CL increases now if you can, and check for Navy offer.

Give us your budget for card payments and we can work on the best plan.

As you can tell from the above post you have numerous option, however all depend on your budget