Better to use an existing Balance Transfer offer or try for cards with better terms?

[leo222]

I have a balance transfer with Discover that is expiring in a couple months, and I'd like to transfer the amount to another BT card. I currently have balance transfers on three different cards (Citi diamond preferred, US Bank, Discover). One of my previous balance transfer cards (Chase Slate) has offered me 15 months at 5% (one time charge). I had a balance transfer with them before Covid when they were completely free (i.e. 0 APR, 0 BT fee, etc.). I've been around the block with BT's, so I know that what they're offering me is far from the best deals out there.

I'm debating whether I should take this, or if I should try for a card with more months (or lower BT fee). The benefit to Slate is that I know what I'm getting, and don't have to waste any hard pulls, don't have to open a new card (i.e. avg age of credit), etc.

I've applied to 3 credit cards in the past year, credit score in the low 730's, UTIL of 15%.

[tcbofade]

If it were me, I'd go for a new account.

You didn't mention the BT fees for the Citi or USBank offers... are they less than Chase?

If Chase is your best offer and you don't want a new account, then use it.

Good luck!

[kilroy8]

5% is too much. Citi Diamond Preferred is known as a BT card. What is the offer there? You need to put it on a card that has zero balance now and you don't use for purchases, or they will blast you with interest on purchases at a very high rate.

[SoCalGardener]

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@leo222 wrote:

I have a balance transfer with Discover that is expiring in a couple months, and I'd like to transfer the amount to another BT card. I currently have balance transfers on three different cards (Citi diamond preferred, US Bank, Discover). One of my previous balance transfer cards (Chase Slate) has offered me 15 months at 5% (one time charge). I had a balance transfer with them before Covid when they were completely free (i.e. 0 APR, 0 BT fee, etc.). I've been around the block with BT's, so I know that what they're offering me is far from the best deals out there.

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Are those other three offers good? I have numerous BT offers right now, all with 0% interest, and two of them are Citi and Discover. I know some of them have BT fees (ranging from 3%-5%), and some don't. One of them is good until August, 2023!

[leo222]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. Regarding the other cards, the citi diamond preferred was/is 3% for 18 months, US Bank 5% for 20 months (great deal, but unfortunately USB gave me a low'ish credit limit).

[Anonymous]

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@leo222 wrote:

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. Regarding the other cards, the citi diamond preferred was/is 3% for 18 months, US Bank 5% for 20 months (great deal, but unfortunately USB gave me a low'ish credit limit).

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US Bank has been reported to do Soft Pull CLIs. I have a card serviced through Elan (subsidiary of US Bank) and the last CLI I requested was a soft pull, all of my bureaus were frozen and I had no issues doubling my limit.

[KLEXH25]

It sounds like people in this thread are misreading OP's post. Please correct me if I'm wrong @leo222 , but you are saying that you currently have three active Balance Transfers on different cards, NOT three BT offers. And that your only current BT offer is from Chase (with whom you had a previous BT), so you're trying to figure out if you should take that or look for a better offer by applying for a new card, right?

I think there's a few things to consider here. How much utilization will your Chase card take by transferring your balance? Is it currently being used or is it sock drawered? Have you looked at any new cards that have BT offers, and how much more in interest would you save? Sometimes it's important to do the math, so you can weigh the benefit of opening up a new card vs spending a few extra bucks. How much more money would you have to save to make opening up a new card worth it? $50? $100?

The other thing to consider is how strong is your overall credit profile? Are you confident you'll get a good approval? There's always a chance a new card may not have a high enough limit for your BT, or you'll risk maxing it out. 

[NRB525]

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@leo222 wrote:

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. Regarding the other cards, the citi diamond preferred was/is 3% for 18 months, US Bank 5% for 20 months (great deal, but unfortunately USB gave me a low'ish credit limit).

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I would be inclined to take the Slate offer of 5% fee. How much are you carrying overall on these three balance transfer balances?  

Do you have a Capital One card? What is the limit on that? Capital One tends to have no BT fee, but they use the full purchase APR when you do BT to their cards. Are you still showing Discover BT offers? One hack can be to BT to a no-BT Fee card such as Capital One, leave the balance there for a week or so, and then move the balance back to the Discover using a refreshed BT offer. 

[leo222]

Hi all,

I've paid down about 70% of my credit card debt, and all of my student loans in the past couple of years - 0% balance transfer cards, along with bulk payments early on, were big helps with that. I'm currently using a couple balance transfer cards for the remainder of my CC debt, and my Discover balance transfer is finishing up in a couple months. Besides the Discover, I currently have a balance transfer with Citi Diamond Preferred, as well as a small balance on a US Bank card.

I've already used up the Chase Slate and AMEX EveryDay a few years ago, so those are out of the question (Although Chase is offering me 5%, 15 month BT offer, which I don't view as a competitive offer). I'm looking for a card/bank that will offer a long 0% promo period, as well as a starting credit limit that is not insulting. For example, US Bank gave me only $1200 a year ago, which I viewed as insultingly low (the other cards usually gave me at least $4-5k, and I will be looking for that amount).

My FICO is in the high 730's, and I have a 15% overall UTIL...down from 80-90% UTIL during my debt-ridden days a few years ago.

[cashorcharge]

Seems like a lot of members have been successful with FNBO and you can use the prequal link before finalizing.  Note that there are some that did the prequal, approved for 1 amount but in actuality, got a lesser amount.  Not sure of the criteria around why but at least you know...

Another option may be with WF and the new Active Cash.  They have a prequal and are offering 18 months 0%.

Lot's of members use Navy Fed if you are eligible too.

Spend some time reading approvals and you'll pick up a lot of valuable info on offers available now