Cash Advance Question

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I can't seem to find what I am looking for so I thought I'll just ask. Is there any updside or downside to "voluntarily" requesting to have your Cash Advance Limit reduced to the lowest possible or a limit of 0 on your credit cards? Also what does a increase or reduction for your CAL signify; as a general consensus for all cards?

Thank you for any responses.

[Anonymous]

The point of $0 CAL is to avoid CA fees when using a card to open Checking/Savings accounts for a SUB either on the card or the C/S accounts.

[Anonymous]

wow, i didn't know you can open a bank acc using a credit card! how often are people doing it, and where do you find the SUB's for it? do you think this is the best way to open a new acct?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

wow, i didn't know you can open a bank acc using a credit card! how often are people doing it, and where do you find the SUB's for it? do you think this is the best way to open a new acct?

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no no no no no

[Anonymous]

would of been too good to be true, free money in my acct for a month what did you mean by using a card to open an acct?

[K-in-Boston]

The downside is that you wouldn't have cash available to you on that card if you found yourself in need of a cash advance, such as an emergency when traveling.  The upside is that any charges you wouldn't expect to be coded as a cash advance rather than a purchase would be denied, and if your card is stolen you wouldn't need to worry about someone making off with a large cash advance.  The cash advance limit is only known to you and the lender, so there should be zero impact anywhere.

As for funding bank accounts, that's quite common.  When I opened my PenFed share account the day I applied for my Defender card, I had to use a credit card to fund the account because their closest branch is many hundreds of miles from me.

[HighAchiever]

Wow, I learn something new everyday on this forum!!!  

[Anonymous]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

The downside is that you wouldn't have cash available to you on that card if you found yourself in need of a cash advance, such as an emergency when traveling.  The upside is that any charges you wouldn't expect to be coded as a cash advance rather than a purchase would be denied, and if your card is stolen you wouldn't need to worry about someone making off with a large cash advance.  The cash advance limit is only known to you and the lender, so there should be zero impact anywhere.

As for funding bank accounts, that's quite common.  When I opened my PenFed share account the day I applied for my Defender card, I had to use a credit card to fund the account because their closest branch is many hundreds of miles from me.

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Thanks. Knowing that I might ask to have some of the limits on my everyday use cards lowered. 

[longtimelurker]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

The downside is that you wouldn't have cash available to you on that card if you found yourself in need of a cash advance, such as an emergency when traveling.  The upside is that any charges you wouldn't expect to be coded as a cash advance rather than a purchase would be denied, and if your card is stolen you wouldn't need to worry about someone making off with a large cash advance.  The cash advance limit is only known to you and the lender, so there should be zero impact anywhere.

As for funding bank accounts, that's quite common.  When I opened my PenFed share account the day I applied for my Defender card, I had to use a credit card to fund the account because their closest branch is many hundreds of miles from me.

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One other downside:   for some cards, funding some banks (and possibly some other types of transactions), the transaction is initially coded as a cash advance, but then gets automatically converted into a normal purchase transaction.    Those that have lowered the cash advance limit will get the transaction denied, even though it is eventually harmless.

But if you are using cards to open bank accounts, you should be consulting the relevant data lists (such as DoctorofCredit and maybe Flyertalk) which list DP as to what cards worked with which banks and quirks like CA->purchase conversion.      There is still a risk if something changes, but hey, you are playing a game with risks!

[Anonymous]

Yes I love this forum. I love learning from everyone.