How to play this balance transfer right?

[BM3]

Hey guys. Situation as follow I am at 30% util overall, with 2 cards with good size balance that will stop being 0% later this month/next month. I really don't want to put %. I have cash on hand to cover some of it, but I'd rather keep the cash as safety. I have burned 9 years ago - amex,(1-2k)  usbank, wellsfargo (it was a small 1000 amount). So I am looking at what options as far as balance transfer are still available.

I have 2 balances on BOA that I need to move. One is at 19% which is good nowadays (8 years ago this was high!! they're screwing you guys!! Id get 7% APR on cards when i called!!)    Another is at 25%. So the 25% visa BOA one is giving me mailers to BR, but obviously I dont want to use that card. The 19% MC card isnt sending me BR offers.

Scores

EX - 709 -  2.8yrs AOOA

Tu- 716    11 months

EQ - 701   2.8 AAOA

31% util 15k/50k overall.

Boa Visa - 6k/13k - 50%

Boa MC 8k/29k - 41%

Firstbank 1k/9k 

Discover It 0/3000

Citi thank you preferred 0/3500

cap one toy card QS -0/500

comenity 0/1500

Cash on hand - 5k.

If I call BOA and ask for lower APR, do they banks try to lower limits as a precaution? 

What would you recommend? 

[AverageJoesCredit]

You can request a lowering of your Apr with no ill affects to your credit. We are allowed to do so. Whether they have any offers is another matter though.

[LakeLife]

Let me make sure I am getting this right.  You're looking to pick up a new card with a BT option, right?  Wells Fargo probably has the best BT option out there right now, but if you burned them it may be no good to you.  Citi has pretty good BT options too, have you checked them out?  I'd be afraid that with your scores and UTIL you may be looking at a pretty small starting CL regardless of what option you decide which will make it tough and cause you high UTIL regardless on the new card regardless of the BT offer.  

I realize that what's in the past can't be changed, but when I do a BT I always divide the principle by the months for the BT offer and stick to that payment.  To me, the BT shuffle game gets really old really fast, and I have two going right now.  But I've budgeted to pay them both off in time as one was for a cruise and the other some debt consolidation.  The reason I bring any of this up is that a personal loan may be a better option for you at this point rather than trying to continue to play the BT shuffle game.  There has been a lot of talk on the forum about Lightstream lately for people with good credit scores.  Also, I've used Lending Club with moderate success too.  

Regardless, good luck, and I hope others have better alternatives.  

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
You can request a lowering of your Apr with no ill affects to your credit. We are allowed to do so. Whether they have any offers is another matter though.

---

Edit:  I should have thought of this as well.  Always worth the effort at least.

[Anonymous]

Have you checked with credit unions? Your utilization actually isn’t that high although I would pay down the other card to below 48.9% to bring your scores up a touch more. I would check local CU for no or low fee BT cards. I would normally recommend NFCU and if you have high income that can drop your DTI below 15%, I would still recommend them for their Platinum card - 0% for 12 months with no fee - provided you have the military affiliation in your family that would make you eligible. 

If not, check online for credit unions near you and see if any of them have a low or no fee BT card. 

I would look at a personal loan as a last resort - many of the personal loans will code as a consumer finance account which is a negative reason code in FICO scoring for one but two, you often don’t end up saving that much and you lock yourself into a set high payment for a period of time plus they almost all come with origination fees, some have additional penalties for early payment... it’s just messy. 

[BM3]

Thank you guys for the replies.  I just got off the phone w a very hyper rep who was 'doing everything she can' for me by suggesting while they don't have lower APR offers, she could take 21000 and put it into my checking for 6 months, to have me pay 3% on that and also have my rate go up 3% once 6 months are done. I questioned her choice and she replied that she always tells her customers that once 5 months are up, just transfer the money to another BT card. When I replied that with a maxed out card of that amount (30k) it would be hard to find another BT card for that, she said "no, not for a new card, for other ones you have, I don't know what other cards you have".  Heh.

Does anyone have advice on staying away from Upstart? They keep sending me mail.   Also how/where can I look for what cards currently offer 0% APR offers? Id need to try for something with a higher SL. I had a preapproval from home depot but didnt see any terms for 0% on the mailer. 

Ill look into CU but my income right now isn't high. 

Cheers

[Anonymous]

The wheels on the bus go round and round.... aka BT shuffling.

Ok, so you have how much $ to move around?  If BOA is talking about moving your CL to your checking account in the amount of 21K then I'm guessing you have at least that much in debt?  

Amex ED card has a $0/0% offer but, that's only going to get $7500 moved over in one whack. It's worth a check to see if they'll roll the dice and give you another card.

Discover tends to offer 18 mo's @ 4.99 w/ $0 fee and 0% for a 3% fee.

Citi Simplicity 0% for 21 months

Citi DC 0%/18 mo

[NaaryalHead]

This will get tiring very fast.
The Amex ED suggestion looks worth trying. Btw how much do you expect to pay down every month to get rid of the debt in the long term?

Has the debt gone up or down in past 6 months?

[BM3]

Debt totals were listed so its 16k total, I have 6k on hand cash. I "have" another 4k coming that's owed but as we know people can be fickle.

Debt has been going up, slowly, but not significantly as I have low expenses. But no income over last few months either. although this situation has given me motivation to say the least.

I burnt 1300 to Amex in 2010, you think it's worth trying?

"

Amex ED card has a $0/0% offer but, that's only going to get $7500 moved over in one whack. It's worth a check to see if they'll roll the dice and give you another card.

Discover tends to offer 18 mo's @ 4.99 w/ $0 fee and 0% for a 3% fee.

Citi Simplicity 0% for 21 months

Citi DC 0%/18 mo"

I have disco It but its only 3300, too little. In any case I need something thats at least 5k at a pop SL, unless Im applying for 4-5 cards at once.

Yeah this dance sucks, and 6 months ago I had almost no debt and felt like Ive finally was free. What the heck. (some of this debt is me helping family to be fair.)

[twall06]

You could try lending club when I compared them against upstart they gave me a better rate. 

[Kforce]

---

@BM3 wrote:
But no income over last few months.

---

This will make it very hard to get a credit card or loan.