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Will a balance transfer hurt my credit situation?

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Will a balance transfer hurt my credit situation?

Here is a break down of my info:

I have the following card balances/limits

Discover It $2500/10,000 - opened in 2012
Amex Blue Cash Every Day - $5000/$18,000 opened in Feb of 2019 (no interest until feb 2020 or possibly even longer. I don’t remember. Might be 18 months.)
Cabelas/Cap1 0/$10,000 - opened in 2009

I have one personal loan from my local credit union opened in Oct/Nov 2019 for 6k and have 4.9K left on it. The interest is really low but I don’t remember exactly what it is so I will say 3% for the sake of this post.

I have a GM Financial truck lease for $540 a month that ends in October. I will be looking to lease something else at that point.

My AOA is 10 years 3 months.
My Amex score simulator says my credit score is 790.
I make about 60-62K a year.
I have 2 inquiries. I have never paid anything late, ever. No baddies. Nothing.

My girlfriend is AU on Amex and Cabellas to help her credit although it does nothing because she has 60 inquiries from applying for credit to help her credit before realizing she shouldn’t do that. My cards just lower her utilization but I guess that is neither here nor there.

My question is this - would closing my cabellas card, opening something like the BankofAmericard or Citi Diamond and transferring my Amex and or Discover Balance there to take advantage of their 18/21 month 0% apr on BT ruin my score or hurt my chances at getting a mortgage or a new truck in October?

My cabellas card is my oldest open account but I just don’t use it anymore and it has no perks. I don’t get any cash back or anything other than store points but we haven’t shopped there in years. Since it’s backed by capital one, can I product change it?

What are my best options here?

Sorry if these questions are dumb but I don’t know much about this. My girlfriend knows more than me from studying these forums as of late and she ironically has sub par credit (her mom stole her ssn hence her studying how to fix it here)

Thanks in advance

2 REPLIES 2
Dalmus
Valued Contributor

Re: Will a balance transfer hurt my credit situation?

A moderator will probably move this to the mortgage section on the forums where you'll probably get some advice from an actual underwriter...

A good rule of thumb I've always been told is try not to have any credit changes within 6 months of applying for a mortgage, or else be prepared to be asked about it by the underwriter.

Since you are closing a card at the same time as opening a card, an underwriter likely won't have an issue, assuming you control your spending.

Signing a new lease at the same time as applying for a mortgage may raise an eyebrow, but with your credit score and DTI ratio, it may not be an issue.

I am not an underwriter though, so I guarantee nothing. Smiley Happy

NFCU MR: $25K | Venture: $21K | Amex ED: $18K | NFCU CR: $18K | Amex BCE: $15K | IT #1: $17.5K | PNC Core: $15K | PPMC:  $12K | Wells Fargo: $11K | Savor: 12K | Cap1 QS: $8.5K | Barclays Rewards: $7.75K | IT #2: $7.3K | MLife: $9.5K | Sportsman's Guide: $8.7K | PenFed PR: $5.5K | Elan Plat: $2.3K | TRV: $3.6K | BotW: $3K


Current FICO 8 Scores: EQ: 828| TU: 805 | EX: 814


Message 2 of 3
tcbofade
Super Contributor

Re: Will a balance transfer hurt my credit situation?

No, it wouldn't trash your score...but as already mentioned, if you are planning to apply for a mortgage in the next twelve months, I wouldn't apply for anything that you don't NEED.

02/01/24 Fico 8: EX 757, EQ 803, TU 783.
Fico 9: EX 760 12/16/23, EQ 790 02/04/24, TU No idea.

Zero percent financing is where the devil lives...
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