Discover IT balance txfer

[Anonymous]

I'm new to Discover and this is my first balance txfer. My cl was 6500 and I transferred 5000 at 0% interest for 18 mos. If I don't use the card for purchases and just work to pay off this balance for a year does that count as inactivity. I don't want them to think I'm a risk with my utilization that high but I also don't want to not use the card either. I'm not familiar with Discover so not sure how exactly to balance getting down my balance and using the card to eventually grow with them and hopefully get cli in the future. Any insight or advice on how to manage my newly acquired Discover would be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

With a BT that high, don’t put any new purchases on it, just pay it down. It’s going to decimate your credit score until you pay it down under 48.9% ($3179 balance).

A BT and payments on a BT counts as activity on a card.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much that's good to know that payments are considered activity. I know my credit score is going to take a hit but won't it balance itself out if now my QS is at 0 balance?

[Anonymous]

The score impact depends on your aggregate utilization percentage as well obviously but a single card beyond 28.9%, 48.9, and 68.9% are scoring thresholds as well.

Just work on paying it off and don’t worry about it. I was just trying to emphasize the importance of not putting more charges on there.

Also keep in mind that Discover’s BT card doesn’t have a purchase intro APR, just a BT one, so you would actually be hit with interest for those.

[pinkandgrey]

Yeah, Saeren covered all the highlights lol. Just pay it down and everything will be good. Disco is very forgiving and will still give you your CLIs as long as you use the card responsibly. Disco also seems to like large amounts on the cards. 

[Anonymous]

In my case I have used Discover BTs and pay within the time frames of the BT. Did not put anything else on the card until the BT was $0. Used Discover BTs over the years and no kick back. In fact, I am now paying off three and have it planned to the $0 mark. They have treated me well.

[Anonymous]

@pinkandgrey ... they immediately sent me to the fraud dept when I purchased a $2600 watch last week lol. But all good just looking out for me.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I'm new to Discover and this is my first balance txfer. My cl was 6500 and I transferred 5000 at 0% interest for 18 mos. If I don't use the card for purchases and just work to pay off this balance for a year does that count as inactivity. I don't want them to think I'm a risk with my utilization that high but I also don't want to not use the card either. I'm not familiar with Discover so not sure how exactly to balance getting down my balance and using the card to eventually grow with them and hopefully get cli in the future. Any insight or advice on how to manage my newly acquired Discover would be appreciated.

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1. No that's not inactivity. They won't think you're a risk but the high percentage utilization (77%) will depress your FICO scores.

2. Do NOT use the card for purchases while you have the balance transfer out there. You will wind up paying interest on the purchases from day one... no grace period.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks so much that's good to know that payments are considered activity. I know my credit score is going to take a hit but won't it balance itself out if now my QS is at 0 balance?

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No it won't because individual card utilization is a distinct scoring factor. You lose points for having any one card at 30% or higher.

[AverageJoesCredit]

Its almost always better to not mix bt and purchases. However, and some Disco cards has this as does mine, there are 0% Promo apr on Purchases and 0% Bt promos at same time so you could still make purchases on it if you wanted to. Just pay it off when statement cuts.