General Balance Transfer Question

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymouswrote:

This may be an odd question. But ive never done a BT before and have been pondering for a month or so about doing one from my Wal-Mart card to my new discover 0% APR card. Reason I haven't already is because i know banks make their money on interest and i know how weird Synchrony bank can be at times .I figured they may not take too kindly to me letting discover steal their interest payments away from them. I'm sure they know its a balance transfer. 

Am I over thinking it? Or do some companies not take kindly to balance transfers? Even aside from synchrony id like to know in general .Maybe they give me a CLD after as punishment or close account? Idk. Maybe I'm over thinking it .Please advise if you have any experience in this. Thank you MyFicoers 

---

Like others have said, they already have been paid with the swipe fees, interest, etc. They would probably like to be paid in full at some point, regardless of where it is from, because now that is pure profit for them with the balance paid. +1 for them

Balance transfers are extremely common and, if you time them right, you can BT a large purchase/balance strategically to avoid interest/fees for a very long time. Some cards charge a one-time % to transfer it but others have promos when they waive it. If you are not PIF, always take advantage of BT's to same yourself some money. You could even calculate the interest you would have paid and apply it as an extra payment each month (or every few months). Great way to get that balance down faster on a 0% card.

You mentioned some of it was a cash advance. Those are traditionally charged at a much higher interest rate which is why it's even more important to BT that balance off of that. You are also able to BT directly into a checking account with some lenders, which would technically be considered a cash advance but avoids those fees/interest.

[BM3]

Couple questions from this newbie:

I see some BT are 3%, which is a big chunk.  Are those 0% offers pretty standard or are they hard to find? 

There was a post by someone getting a 32k limit on a United Chase card. The reply was "card is kind of useless, but you can transfer that limit". I don't get that last part, as I think OP just applied for the card and had no limit. What did the poster imply?

[AverageJoesCredit]

Guys so as not to open another thread, and sorry Roy21 for hijacking though it is related to bt.

When you bt away from a bank, they get paid by the other party. My question is that considered a payment or should i also make a payment for my upcoming due date. I reference bting away from BOA to Navy . Thank you.

[BM3]

Not answering that, but also curious about one trick I used to know about 7 years ago - you could buy something with a card, then cancel it (get a chargeback) and that counted as a payment. That was a nifty little trick, does it still work?

[Anonymous]

---

@BM3wrote:

Couple questions from this newbie:

I see some BT are 3%, which is a big chunk.  Are those 0% offers pretty standard or are they hard to find? 

There was a post by someone getting a 32k limit on a United Chase card. The reply was "card is kind of useless, but you can transfer that limit". I don't get that last part, as I think OP just applied for the card and had no limit. What did the poster imply?

---

There are a few cards that offer 0% transfer promos. You can do a quick search online under "BT cards". This does open a new account, so plan accordingly if it is worth it. The other cards that do 3-5% fee is a one time charge. Calculate how long it will take you to pay that balance, multiply that by the interest you are charged each month and compare that to the fee of the balance transfer. Depending on your interest rate, you will likely find a nice amount of savings while you pay that balance off.

I could be wrong, but they were referring to taking advantage of the BT offer only for that card (as it does not have many other benefits) then transferring that credit line over to another Chase product once they are done taking advantage of the BT offer. Although this is a lot of work, you could save a lot of money on the fee(s)/interest - could be similar to a hefty sign-up bonus and then some. All of these require you to do some math and calculate it yourself because YRMV.

[Anonymous]

---

@AverageJoesCreditwrote:
Guys so as not to open another thread, and sorry Roy21 for hijacking though it is related to bt.

When you bt away from a bank, they get paid by the other party. My question is that considered a payment or should i also make a payment for my upcoming due date. I reference bting away from BOA to Navy . Thank you.

---

In my experience, although it has been a few years, the BT is a payment made by the creditor to your account and would be considered one. There can often be delays in processing so I would plan to make your regular payment and then subtract that from your requested amount (assuming its a PIF transfer). It is always better to pay more and request a refund then to be late/under.

[AverageJoesCredit]

Thanks CreditCustomer. Im gonna make my payment anyway. If anything, ill be $100 less to pay on next promo

[Anonymous]

@ AJC when I did my BT last week my minimum payment was $91. Well I rounded it up a little .And BT everything except for that minimum payment and then some .I did this because as stated even while doing the BT. Most creditors tell you the BT can take 7-10 days and to continue making regular scheduled payments to not incur late fees etc. Mine only took 4 or 5 days so I would have been ok but rather be safe than sorry .

[redE2move]

Just went through this myself.  I was hoping the BT payment (which I requested on the 22nd) would hit my card before the payment was due but it didn't.  I ended up making the minimum payment as well.  This is my second BT and what I noticed this time around was that my BT was issued by check (requested on the 22nd, check disbursed on the 28th and payment hasn't hit account yet so I'm on my 10th day if you count weekend days) .  The 1st BT payment was done electronically (requested on the 18th, ELECTRONICALLY disbursed the following day and payment hit account the following day taking 3 days total to process).  So now I have this theory ELECTRONIC vs PAPER CHECK.  Maybe the method of payment on the BT is decided based on the amount of the BT.  The 2nd BT was $2000 while the 1st, only $500.  

[UpperNwGuy]

---

@BM3wrote:

Couple questions from this newbie:

I see some BT are 3%, which is a big chunk.  Are those 0% offers pretty standard or are they hard to find? 

There was a post by someone getting a 32k limit on a United Chase card. The reply was "card is kind of useless, but you can transfer that limit". I don't get that last part, as I think OP just applied for the card and had no limit. What did the poster imply?

---

A one-time balance transfer fee is not the same thing as the APR on the transferred balance.  You can easily find balance transfer offers for 0% APR, but most of those have a 3% upfront transfer fee.  A few don't charge a fee.  Those are the good ones.

Transferring a balance is a different concept than transferring a credit limit.  When you transfer a balance, it is between banks.  When you transfer a credit limit, it is between two cards issued by the same bank.