@lexrjSD wrote:Trying to help a friend get the highest cl(s) possible for a BT and I'm wondering what are your guys opinion.
His current credit situation
AAOA 5.5yrs
Total Util: 25% of 80K
1-2 inquiries across the board but all over 1yr old.
No BK, badies or anything.
He has about 5-6 cards all with limits above 10k from Citi, Barclays, Chase and Wells Fargo.
Problem: all his cards are at 0% util except for his Barclays Arrival that has 100 % util (20K limit), which is tanking his scores from low 800s to high 600s. His 0% int promo on his Arrival will run out next month so he nees to BT to something else.
The plan
Pay down as much as he can of his Barclays Arrival (he can pay down to 70%) before statement cut, wait for to report it and hopefully get a decent bump on his scores so he can then apply for 1-2 BT cards and spread the debt left from the Arrival.
My thoughts
I think Slate is out of question because he already has the CSP with 20k cl and you cant realocate limits when using BT. I've also excluded Citi Diamond because he also has 2 cards with Citi totaling ~25k Cl, so I've narrow down to Discovery and/or Amex Revolver since he doesnt have or never had an account with them.
Questions
Which one or more he should go for considering initial CL generosity and recon possibility for higher CL? He is going to need at least 15k combined.
On Amex case, if he does get approved, can he use the 61days CLI and still use it for BT assuming a higher limit after CLI?
Any other better options out there that I'm missing?
sorry for the long post, I do really appreciate the help
He can apply for chase slate, they may approve for additional limit or move limit away from csp to open card, and he can move any amount he want away from CSP
@lexrjSD wrote:Trying to help a friend get the highest cl(s) possible for a BT and I'm wondering what are your guys opinion.
His current credit situation
AAOA 5.5yrs
Total Util: 25% of 80K
1-2 inquiries across the board but all over 1yr old.
No BK, badies or anything.
He has about 5-6 cards all with limits above 10k from Citi, Barclays, Chase and Wells Fargo.
Problem: all his cards are at 0% util except for his Barclays Arrival that has 100 % util (20K limit), which is tanking his scores from low 800s to high 600s. His 0% int promo on his Arrival will run out next month so he nees to BT to something else.
The plan
Pay down as much as he can of his Barclays Arrival (he can pay down to 70%) before statement cut, wait for to report it and hopefully get a decent bump on his scores so he can then apply for 1-2 BT cards and spread the debt left from the Arrival.
My thoughts
I think Slate is out of question because he already has the CSP with 20k cl and you cant realocate limits when using BT. I've also excluded Citi Diamond because he also has 2 cards with Citi totaling ~25k Cl, so I've narrow down to Discovery and/or Amex Revolver since he doesnt have or never had an account with them.
Questions
Which one or more he should go for considering initial CL generosity and recon possibility for higher CL? He is going to need at least 15k combined.
On Amex case, if he does get approved, can he use the 61days CLI and still use it for BT assuming a higher limit after CLI?
Any other better options out there that I'm missing?
sorry for the long post, I do really appreciate the help
Which two cards with Citi? Has he asked Citi directly whether there are any BT offers? I did that a month ago on my Diamond Preferred, they initially replied no BT available, and now I have a BT offer in my account for 3.9% for 6-7 months lower APR.
The more difficult question, why is the balance at 100% utilization at the end of the 0% promo period? Ideally one would start to pay down the balances heading to that end date, which would look better than remaining maxed out for the entire time? If this next BT round occurs, does the balance come down rapidly? If the balance is going to decline rapidly, it may be worthwhile just to start bringing it down rapidly while the amounts are on the Arrival, without regard to the short term interest cost, to boost scores and make any apps more likely.
Like many said above, do SLATE and see if you can shift CL.
And why not also do DISCOVER? Maybe he can get $10k CL each. Problem solved! 
NOTE:
Slate is a better option since there is 0% BT fee in addition to 0% interest on BT for 15 months. The BT must be done within 60 days.
Discover has 0% interest on BT for 18 months, but it charges 3% BT fee.
@onstar wrote:Like many said above, do SLATE and see if you can shift CL.
And why not also do DISCOVER? Maybe he can get $10k CL each. Problem solved!
NOTE:
Slate is a better option since there is 0% BT fee in addition to 0% interest on BT for 15 months. The BT must be done within 60 days.
Discover has 0% interest on BT for 18 months, but it charges 3% BT fee.
Discover is the one I was considering, it says at the bottom of the post.
@lexrjSD wrote:
@takeshi74 wrote:
@lexrjSD wrote:I think Slate is out of question because he already has the CSP with 20k cl and you cant realocate limits when using BT.
You're confusing two different things. You can't balance transfer with the same creditor. However, you can certainly reallocate with Chase.
The only creditor is Barclays, how am I trying to BT to the same creditor?
The bolded part looks confusing. It sounds like you're saying you cannot allocate limits between Chase cards (just because you're going to be doing a BT later) which is untrue. So takeshi74 thought maybe you got that confused with not being able to BT within the same bank.
What he and others are suggesting is that you get the Slate card first (let's say you get a $5K CL). Then you do reallocation of CL from CSP (say $15K CL transfer so that you now have $20K CL on Slate and $5K CL on CSP). Then you can do a BT from Barclay to Slate for up to $20K. You can absolutely do a CL reallocation from CSP to Slate. Now, "can" does not mean that it "will" happen, but many people have successfully reallocated CLs among Chase credit cards.
@lexrjSD wrote:
@onstar wrote:Like many said above, do SLATE and see if you can shift CL.
And why not also do DISCOVER? Maybe he can get $10k CL each. Problem solved!
NOTE:
Slate is a better option since there is 0% BT fee in addition to 0% interest on BT for 15 months. The BT must be done within 60 days.
Discover has 0% interest on BT for 18 months, but it charges 3% BT fee.
Discover is the one I was considering, it says at the bottom of the post.
Yes, you wrote Discover at the end. I wasn't trying to give you a NEW option. My suggestion was to do Discover in ADDITION to the Slate so that there are more options, especially since you don't believe in CL reallocation.
@onstar wrote:
@lexrjSD wrote:
@takeshi74 wrote:
@lexrjSD wrote:I think Slate is out of question because he already has the CSP with 20k cl and you cant realocate limits when using BT.
You're confusing two different things. You can't balance transfer with the same creditor. However, you can certainly reallocate with Chase.
The only creditor is Barclays, how am I trying to BT to the same creditor?
The bolded part looks confusing. It sounds like you're saying you cannot allocate limits between Chase cards (just because you're going to be doing a BT later) which is untrue. So takeshi74 thought maybe you got that confused with not being able to BT within the same bank.
What he and others are suggesting is that you get the Slate card first (let's say you get a $5K CL). Then you do reallocation of CL from CSP (say $15K CL transfer so that you now have $20K CL on Slate and $5K CL on CSP). Then you can do a BT from Barclay to Slate for up to $20K. You can absolutely do a CL reallocation from CSP to Slate. Now, "can" does not mean that it "will" happen, but many people have successfully reallocated CLs among Chase credit cards.
@lexrjSD wrote:
@onstar wrote:Like many said above, do SLATE and see if you can shift CL.
And why not also do DISCOVER? Maybe he can get $10k CL each. Problem solved!
NOTE:
Slate is a better option since there is 0% BT fee in addition to 0% interest on BT for 15 months. The BT must be done within 60 days.
Discover has 0% interest on BT for 18 months, but it charges 3% BT fee.
Discover is the one I was considering, it says at the bottom of the post.
Yes, you wrote Discover at the end. I wasn't trying to give you a NEW option. My suggestion was to do Discover in ADDITION to the Slate so that there are more options, especially since you don't believe in CL reallocation.
Got it, thanks!
I did not know about the Slate, I thought you could only BT whatever limit you get approved for, are you guys 100% about that?