@CreditJourney007 wrote:I want to take advantage of the blank check 18 month .99% BT to pay off an emergency I charged elsewhere.
This would make my Penfed util around 47%, but would be under 30% in like 3 months. I don't want to be balance chased, and my util would be around 9% overall, since most cards don't report a balance and the other ones are all under 10% util.
Any advice is appreciated.
What do you mean by "balance chased"?
@Wavester64 wrote:What do you mean by "balance chased"?
As you pay down the card and your remaining balance drops they also decrease the credit limit on the card, usually to be just above the remaining balance.
Creates a headache because the card will continually report high utilization as long as there is a balance remaining and it's not unusual for the card to be closed by the issuer when the balance reaches 0.
@CreditJourney007 wrote:
@coldfusion wrote:
@CreditJourney007 wrote:Thank you both for your insight!
I really wanted to do a slightly bigger BT, but I don't want to go over the 48.5% threshold! Or spook PenFed.
Don't worry about scaring them just because you did a balance transfer equalling more than 50% of your credit limit. What you do want to do is not scare them during the repayment period.
The one thing I absolutely suggest is that you pay off the balance much like it were an installment loan i.e. pay back at least 6% of the original balance every month, and not employ a strategy like planning on making mininum or close to mininum payments for 17 months with a single large balloon payment in month 18.
I plan to have a balance of about $5000 with about $400-$500 payment every month.
That would work just fine. There is a long term effect as well by following this path with regard to potential for CLIs once the BT is paid off.
@dogmeat wrote:No, they don't. I was at 28k+ of a 30k limit PF card a while back ago, and they never blinked. Depending on your other cards, though, it may not be PenFed you have to worry about. Other issuers you have may see your increased utilization on the PenFed account and act on it. Still, if it's saving you money, is it BFD if they do? Only you can answer that.
Depends on the card, but it might save me time calling them to close the cards individually 
A few years ago, I think my AMEX util was never below 80%. For like a year straight and though they hate me and never give me CLI's, they didn't balance chase. Not sure the sensitivity of my other creditors to this. The only balance chasing that has happened to me has been with Synch and all those cards are now closed anyway.
Honestly, if you're paying $500 per month, you'll have a $5k BT paid off in less than a year... I'd just do that if it were me.
Your call tho. Paying it off in April certainly wouldn't hurt anything.
