Could a balance transfer trigger adverse action?

[Anonymous]

I've never done a balance transfer before, so please excuse my ignorance.

My Amex BCE's intro period of 0% APR runs out in July. My Discover IT is offering 0% for balance transfers of 12 months duration (with 3% fee). That offer also ends in July. I'd like to BT from Amex (current balance $1500) to Disco, but I'm worried that Amex might lower my credit limit if I do. It's my highest CL at $12,000, and I want to protect it. Is AA a possibility? My payment history (15 months) with Amex is perfect, never late and always paying at least 3X minimum and sometimes 10X. But I'm not able to PIF before the 0% intro runs out.

What would you advise? Thanks for reading.

[Anonymous]

While ANYTHING is possible, based on your post, I’m betting you’ll be fine. 

[Gollum]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've never done a balance transfer before, so please excuse my ignorance.

My Amex BCE's intro period of 0% APR runs out in July. My Discover IT is offering 0% for balance transfers of 12 months duration (with 3% fee). That offer also ends in July. I'd like to BT from Amex (current balance $1500) to Disco, but I'm worried that Amex might lower my credit limit if I do. It's my highest CL at $12,000, and I want to protect it. Is AA a possibility? My payment history (15 months) with Amex is perfect, never late and always paying at least 3X minimum and sometimes 10X. But I'm not able to PIF before the 0% intro runs out.

What would you advise? Thanks for reading.

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anewleafagain,

I advise concentrating on paying what you owe and trying to not think about credit limits.

[CreditInspired]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've never done a balance transfer before, so please excuse my ignorance.

My Amex BCE's intro period of 0% APR runs out in July. My Discover IT is offering 0% for balance transfers of 12 months duration (with 3% fee). That offer also ends in July. I'd like to BT from Amex (current balance $1500) to Disco, but I'm worried that Amex might lower my credit limit if I do. It's my highest CL at $12,000, and I want to protect it. Is AA a possibility? My payment history (15 months) with Amex is perfect, never late and always paying at least 3X minimum and sometimes 10X. But I'm not able to PIF before the 0% intro runs out.

What would you advise? Thanks for reading.

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As long as everything in your credit profile is up to par, you’ll be just fine. There’s no need to pay interest if you dont have to. I did the same thing last year with the help of this forum. I had Discover direct deposit the BT amount to my checking account and then I used the funds to pay off one of my AmX cards. 

[AverageJoesCredit]

Im sure Op understands they need to pay their obligations. Worrying about ones credit limit is ok if its important to them though in this case i believe its not an issue.

Amex wants to get paid so there is no problem in doing a bt. I like that Discover allows you direct deposit, or hopefully your account is eligble, so you can get the bt funds in your own account and pay Amex just like you normally would. If not , Disco will cut a check and Amex still gets paid. I also find doing bt with Discover many times helps in getting better cli in future, ymmv of course.

[CreditInspired]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Im sure Op understands they need to pay their obligations. Worrying about ones credit limit is ok if its important to them though in this case i believe its not an issue.

Amex wants to get paid so there is no problem in doing a bt. I like that Discover allows you direct deposit, or hopefully your account is eligble, so you can get the bt funds in your own account and pay Amex just like you normally would. If not , Disco will cut a check and Amex still gets paid. I also find doing bt with Discover many times helps in getting better cli in future, ymmv of course.

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+1

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've never done a balance transfer before, so please excuse my ignorance.

My Amex BCE's intro period of 0% APR runs out in July. My Discover IT is offering 0% for balance transfers of 12 months duration (with 3% fee). That offer also ends in July. I'd like to BT from Amex (current balance $1500) to Disco, but I'm worried that Amex might lower my credit limit if I do. It's my highest CL at $12,000, and I want to protect it. Is AA a possibility? My payment history (15 months) with Amex is perfect, never late and always paying at least 3X minimum and sometimes 10X. But I'm not able to PIF before the 0% intro runs out.

What would you advise? Thanks for reading.

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You didn't mention it but what is the credit limit on your Discover card?  Its unlikely that AA of any sort will occur but you'd also need to be mindful about the individual utilization of your Discover card. 

[pinkandgrey]

I’d be pretty surprised if anything happened. After all, Amex is getting its money one way or another. 

[Anonymous]

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@pinkandgrey wrote:

I’d be pretty surprised if anything happened. After all, Amex is getting its money one way or another. 

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+1

And, from what I've read and seen, Amex seems to like fully paid accounts. I'd be very surprised if that spooked them...especially given that you're only using just over 10% of the available credit. Now if you were at 80%, it may be different.

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@pinkandgrey wrote:

I’d be pretty surprised if anything happened. After all, Amex is getting its money one way or another. 

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+1

And, from what I've read and seen, Amex seems to like fully paid accounts. I'd be very surprised if that spooked them...especially given that you're only using just over 10% of the available credit. Now if you were at 80%, it may be different.

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Right, and remember that Amex isn't going to be aware that this is a balance transfer, they just see that they are getting paid.   So they would only take AA if they were getting ready to balance chase, and if that is the case (which it almost certainly isn't!), it's going to happen anyway.

My only advice is whether it's worth paying the 3% fee IF you can pay if off anyway.  (If you can't, then yes, BT is the way to go)