Direct Deposit Balance Transfers

[omgitsMatt]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@K-in-Boston wrote:
A few notable lenders still make those $0 fee and 0% APR offers from time to time. Navy Federal Credit Union and Comenity (on V/MC cards) come immediately to mind. Also available with new accounts on BankAmericard, EveryDay, and Slate.

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Yes but these can't be direct deposited, they have to be used to pay creditors. I asked NFCU about BT checks when they had the $0/0% last year and they said they can send me checks but they would be at full APR. I read that Comenity doesn't allow BT to checking either. 

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Idk if this interests you in the future, but my CSR told me to just enter the account number for the bank I was trying to deposit into.

That the people who cut the checks and mail them out can't see if the account is a checking account or checking line of credit so they don't pause when writing the check. (This is only what I was told, Idk if its accurate tbh)

I called back two hrs later when ready to do the BT to my checking and the next CSR said you couldn't do it to a checking. There was a shift change, so they said to call back later to get ahold of the CSR and supervisor I talked to earlier. That the ppl I talked to earlier were documented as speaking with me.

I didnt bother. Just did it on desktop myself, funds showed up in my Alliant checking account a week later.

My statement noted that specific BT was at 0% promo rate too when the statement cut a few weeks later 

[Anonymous]

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@omgitsMatt wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@K-in-Boston wrote:
A few notable lenders still make those $0 fee and 0% APR offers from time to time. Navy Federal Credit Union and Comenity (on V/MC cards) come immediately to mind. Also available with new accounts on BankAmericard, EveryDay, and Slate.

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Yes but these can't be direct deposited, they have to be used to pay creditors. I asked NFCU about BT checks when they had the $0/0% last year and they said they can send me checks but they would be at full APR. I read that Comenity doesn't allow BT to checking either. 

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Idk if this interests you in the future, but my CSR told me to just enter the account number for the bank I was trying to deposit into.

That the people who cut the checks and mail them out can't see if the account is a checking account or checking line of credit so they don't pause when writing the check. (This is only what I was told, Idk if its accurate tbh)

I called back two hrs later when ready to do the BT to my checking and the next CSR said you couldn't do it to a checking. There was a shift change, so they said to call back later to get ahold of the CSR and supervisor I talked to earlier. That the ppl I talked to earlier were documented as speaking with me.

I didnt bother. Just did it on desktop myself, funds showed up in my Alliant checking account a week later.

My statement noted that specific BT was at 0% promo rate too when the statement cut a few weeks later 

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I wondered about this but hadn't been brave enough to try it. I mean if the lender does realize what you're doing, you're risking losing that account or at minimum losing future BT offers. It didn't really seem worth it to save a small fee. 

[omgitsMatt]

I spent a few minutes making very sure I gave the right mailing address for the proper department Navy would mail the check to.

It needs to be the address where you specifically mail any checks you're depositing into your checking account.

That first CSR said it wasn't whether they'd cut the check for me or not, it was if the bank who got it would cash it or return it that would be a concern.

Alliant will deposit BT checks from 3rd parties.

Navy too actually.

I'm sure many others, but I've also read where some banks haven't though and sent them back.

I think that was consumer error on the ppl not directing the check to be sent to the right place though

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Looks like the balance transfer card for Discover is 0% interest for 18 months with a 3% transfer. How does that even work? Do you send them a statement from the credit card you've used the funds for?

Or are you essentially getting an 0% 18 month personal loan for a 3% fee?

I can't even wrap my head around that, it boggles the mind. 

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OP, the balance transfer process is generally similar across banks. There are individual quirks of some parts of it, but generally quite similar.  

If someone is not certain how this all works, my suggestion is to take a small BT, say funded by your Discover card, to transfer funds to one of your other credit cards. The entire process is online, and Discover is an easy process to follow. The amount does not need to be large, say $100 or $200, because the point of this is to watch the steps as they proceed;

1 Request Discover BT

2 Enter card number which you want the funds to be applied to

3 Note the date you do the BT request 

4 Monitor the card the funds are sent to, to see how many days pass until the funds "pay down" that card ( you have added that debt on Discover, so BT is not in any sense "reducing debt" )

5 Note how Discover posts the BT amount, including how that amount is separated on your Discover statement in a specific balance / APR tranche, on page 2 or 3 of your statement.  
6 Extra credit to monitor how your payments to Discover are applied to the various balance tranches.