Best time to do a balance transfer?

[Anonymous]

So after getting a CLI from BoA, I've decided to go through with the idea of trading balances between my BoA and Discover card. (I'm not worried about the mortgage situation anymore because we passed on the one house and honestly we might still be waiting another year before we find what we're looking for.) I have balance transfer offers on both, and with the CLI I don't have to worry about messing with my utilization. Here's my question:

When should I schedule these transfers so that they both process and post to my accounts before the bill cycles? I don't want to end up having a bill cycle in the middle of this so that one card ends up showing a huge balance because the process wasn't completed yet.

Thankfully, these accounts are billed only one day apart. 

Discover opens on the 28th and closes on the 27th. BoA opens on the 27th and closes on the 26th. 

I would assume based on this information that I should schedule the transfers on the 27th. Also, I assume I should schedule them both at the same time, but is this correct? Should I schedule one, wait for it to post, and then schedule another? I don't see why I would need to, but that's why I'm asking. 

Thank you in advance!

[imaximous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

So after getting a CLI from BoA, I've decided to go through with the idea of trading balances between my BoA and Discover card. (I'm not worried about the mortgage situation anymore because we passed on the one house and honestly we might still be waiting another year before we find what we're looking for.) I have balance transfer offers on both, and with the CLI I don't have to worry about messing with my utilization. Here's my question:

When should I schedule these transfers so that they both process and post to my accounts before the bill cycles? I don't want to end up having a bill cycle in the middle of this so that one card ends up showing a huge balance because the process wasn't completed yet.

Thankfully, these accounts are billed only one day apart. 

Discover opens on the 28th and closes on the 27th. BoA opens on the 27th and closes on the 26th. 

I would assume based on this information that I should schedule the transfers on the 27th. Also, I assume I should schedule them both at the same time, but is this correct? Should I schedule one, wait for it to post, and then schedule another? I don't see why I would need to, but that's why I'm asking. 

Thank you in advance!

---

Do you have the option to deposit the BT amount into your checking account or only direct BT? If so, that'd help with the guessing game of when the BT finalizes. I'd request the money the day after statement closing, wait till it becomes available in your checking account, and then make the payment to the Discover card. This way you'd have more control over when the transactions take place.

Just in case, be aware of the BT fine print too. You may have to stop using the BofA card altogether until you're done paying it off to avoid losing the 0% promo.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I'm able to transfer the funds directly into my bank account, but I was under the impression it took longer to do it this way than to have the money go straight to the other card.

Also, I'm actually trading balances. I'm transferring the balance on Discover to BoA, and I'm transferring the balance on BoA to Discover. The promo for both expired in December, and they both have about the same amount on them. So do you think it would be better to have the money from both accounts transferred to my bank at the same time, and then just pay them from there?

I've done this before, sort of, but I don't remember exactly what I did and I was more concerned about getting debt paid off than my CS itself. This time around, however, I'm trying to keep my CS happy. It's between 735-765 depending on where you look, and I'd like to keep it that way.

[imaximous]

Now I'm a bit confused. I thought you were just trying pay off Discover by using a BT promo from BofA. It sounded pretty simple.

This seems a little more involved and I don't want to offer the wrong advice. What happens is if your current 0% offers expired in december and you didn't pay off the entire amounts, you're already paying interest on the remaining balances. Even after you pay them off, there's going to be some trailing interest so your payoff amount isn't exactly what shows as outstanding anymore. There are some quirks with BT offers where you lose your grace periods or promotional BT offers if there is new activity on the card, so I'm not really sure what the best course of action is here, but I'd suggest you find out before making any moves. I hope others can chime in and offer better advice.

[SummerOf17]

I look at this way: the sooner you do it the better it is. Things will average out at the better end. If it is A year before you pull the plug on the mortgage, IMHO, is enough for the banks to decide whether u are worthy of the best rate at that point. I just went thru 16K reshuffle on BTs, paid some fees(still better off that paying 25% interest over a year), 0, 2 and 3% on some. Made a 6K BT score went up 30 points, got 2 more cards were BT went = score went down 27 points. PO 2 other cards with another BT, score went up 5 points, then when all reported it went up 3 points. Increased CL by 30K. AAoA went down to a bit below 3 years, figures. At this point all at 0% for the next 15 month. That is ~190 or so in interest on monthly bases less. It is a bit extreme, but Hey pay the balance down!

Added: As far as days:

BTs To Chase Freedom from Disco and Amex were about 8 days. To Cap1 Savor from CFU was 10 days. From CSR to Cap1 Venture was 6 days.

[Anonymous]

Get that crap paid off! That's my motto here. Last year I was able to shuffle things around so that between all my cards, I owed 0% interest. I'm simply trying to do that again, but involving fewer cards.

The transfer fees would cost less than a month of interest between both cards, so in my book it's totally worth it.

And as for the mortgage, we'd happily buy a place today, but we need something specific because I have horses, and it's been a special kind of misery trying to find something with a few acres in our budget. I feel like we'll be waiting a while, but I don't want to do anything crazy that will impact my score too much just in case something pops up.

[Remedios]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Get that crap paid off! That's my motto here. Last year I was able to shuffle things around so that between all my cards, I owed 0% interest. I'm simply trying to do that again, but involving fewer cards.

The transfer fees would cost less than a month of interest between both cards, so in my book it's totally worth it.

And as for the mortgage, we'd happily buy a place today, but we need something specific because I have horses, and it's been a special kind of misery trying to find something with a few acres in our budget. I feel like we'll be waiting a while, but I don't want to do anything crazy that will impact my score too much just in case something pops up.

---

No offense, but unless I am missing something here...you're currently posting about your own quest to transfer balances while telling them to pay that cr*p down...

What am I missing here? 

Edit: I re read, not enough coffee 

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the confusion, I was actually just agreeing with the sentiment of her post. I wasn't telling her what she needs to do, but expressing what I myself need/want to do. The way I'm looking at it is the big picture of "get that debt paid down as quickly as possible, and do whatever you have to in order to accomplish it", but I'm no expert, so that's why I'm here asking to see if I'm on the right path.

[Remedios]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Sorry for the confusion, I was actually just agreeing with the sentiment of her post. I wasn't telling her what she needs to do, but expressing what I myself need/want to do. The way I'm looking at it is the big picture of "get that debt paid down as quickly as possible, and do whatever you have to in order to accomplish it", but I'm no expert, so that's why I'm here asking to see if I'm on the right path.

---

You're not causing any confusion, I did it all by myself lol 

I scanned too fast. Sorry 

[NRB525]

Since both cards are in full APR mode, if you can get the BT through checks that can help with the transfers.

Both accounts willl have a full APR balance, both will have a 0% tranche.
Once you have the cash, you make a minimum payment, which will be applied to the lowest APR first. Then you make the payment for the full APR amount to each account and that will be applied to the full APR amount.

And then work to pay them down, yes