Balance Transfer and Credit Utilization

[Anonymous]

I have a handful of cards, some I use more than others but I pay off the balances every month of most aside from a couple cards that have 0% for 24 months. My credit score is in the low 800's.

I just added the Chase Slate card for their introductory balance transfer offer of 0% no fee for 15 months. I'm starting a landscaping project that I want to charge to an AMEX that I have (1% cash back) and transfer the balance to my new Slate card. My current total credit card utilization is 7% of $100K available. My CL is $17K on the Slate but Chase said the balance transfer limit is $15K.

My question is, what is the safest amount to balance transfer without impacting my score too much? I'm not super concerned about it falling a bit, but I don't want to set any flags off. Would it be $8,500, which would be 50% of the Slate card, or can I got higher since my total utilization will be at 22% if I maxed the $15K transfer out? TIA

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I have a handful of cards, some I use more than others but I pay off the balances every month of most aside from a couple cards that have 0% for 24 months. My credit score is in the low 800's.

I just added the Chase Slate card for their introductory balance transfer offer of 0% no fee for 15 months. I'm starting a landscaping project that I want to charge to an AMEX that I have (1% cash back) and transfer the balance to my new Slate card. My current total credit card utilization is 7% of $100K available. My CL is $17K on the Slate but Chase said the balance transfer limit is $15K.

My question is, what is the safest amount to balance transfer without impacting my score too much? I'm not super concerned about it falling a bit, but I don't want to set any flags off. Would it be $8,500, which would be 50% of the Slate card, or can I got higher since my total utilization will be at 22% if I maxed the $15K transfer out? TIA

---

Welcome to the forums.  There is no way anyone would know the answer to your question.  How a large balance on a credit card will affect your scores is entirely dependent upon what your credit file looks like.  Unless you are planning on a mortgage or auto purchase I wouldn't worry about score changes so much.  Your reports have no memory when it comes to utilization and whatever drop you might get will disappear as you pay off the card.

[Anonymous]

Thank you - 

Just built a home, so no plans for another mortgage but potentially a new vehicle in the next 24 months. I agree, I'm not super concerned a slight score drop, but I just don't want a large balance transfer action trigger something on my other cards.

[vanillabean]

Credit card companies look at the bigger picture. When your credit is solid, you can do lots of stuff. DW was approved for a Freedom card a few months back, which comes with 0% APR for 15 months. In the middle of the most recently completed billing cycle, she was up at ~75% at some point. Nothing happened. Then a return refund came in, followed by a payment to bring the balance down further, leaving the utilization on the statement date at 29%.

So credit card companies don’t mind that you charge extensively as long as reasonably sized payments follow soon. Don’t let a card sit with a reported balance at 50% for more than a month or two. And be sure always to pay more than your minimum payment to show an earnest effort in paying off your debt.

DW’s FICO 08 scores by the way are consistently in the 830-850 range.

[NRB525]

If you want to finance $15k at 0% APR for 15 months, go for it.

I have run BT onto cards in the range of 70% up to 95% many times, and as long as you are making large payments, the lenders love it.

To make this work, you would BT the $15k onto the Slate, and pay $1,000 every month for 15 months. Chase will have no problem with this.

If you start paying only minimum payments, intending to pay a lump at the end, then there might be concerns, but even then, because it is the only large balance you would have, probably no issues, but it is possible you get a call from Chase. Given your scores are already 800, even this call seems unlikely because the scores imply a long history of on time payments.

Your scores will dip because of the higher overall utilization, but as noted by the others, you will be saving interest expense, so for these first several months, you don't really care what your FICO score is. The score will come back as the open balance drops to 12k, 8k, etc until you've paid off the balance, and Chase will have another positive datapoint in your file.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that information. That makes sense. I wasn't really anticipating making large payments, but I also wasn't going to be doing the minimum either. Depending on what number I go with, there may be a balance at the end, in which, might look into another BT. That's just worse case scenario. I don't really intend to be hopping around, opening new accounts or anything. Just kind of a one time deal as we get exterior construction finished on new house. Too early for HELOC.

[vanillabean]

If I remember correctly about HELOCs, FICO treats larger ones (>~40K) as installment loans, which have much less impact on your scores. As the saying goes, if you take a bottle from the wine cellar, it's obvious it's missing; if you take a whole case, no one will ever find out.

[MarineVietVet]

---

@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:

If I remember correctly about HELOCs, FICO treats larger ones (>~40K) as installment loans, which have much less impact on your scores. As the saying goes, if you take a bottle from the wine cellar, it's obvious it's missing; if you take a whole case, no one will ever find out.

---

Actually what happens is that some creditors, for whatever reason, report larger LOC's as installment loans instead of revolving and they are then scored as such.

There doesn't seem to be a set dollar amount that triggers such reporting though.

[ChrisinKC]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I have a handful of cards, some I use more than others but I pay off the balances every month of most aside from a couple cards that have 0% for 24 months. My credit score is in the low 800's.

I just added the Chase Slate card for their introductory balance transfer offer of 0% no fee for 15 months. I'm starting a landscaping project that I want to charge to an AMEX that I have (1% cash back) and transfer the balance to my new Slate card. My current total credit card utilization is 7% of $100K available. My CL is $17K on the Slate but Chase said the balance transfer limit is $15K.

My question is, what is the safest amount to balance transfer without impacting my score too much? I'm not super concerned about it falling a bit, but I don't want to set any flags off. Would it be $8,500, which would be 50% of the Slate card, or can I got higher since my total utilization will be at 22% if I maxed the $15K transfer out? TIA

---

This is just another reason why there needs to be MAJOR credit scoring reform.  You're not trying to do anything illegal, sneaky, or anything like that, but depending on your actions FICO could lower your score which COULD have a huge financial impact to you.  Another scam by FICO not being completely transparent on their scoring model.  Please don't bother replying to me that FICO is a for profit company and therefore shouldn't release their "secretive" formula.  When people are impacted financially by FICO's scoring model, then maybe that's a sign that maybe, just maybe, a for profit company shouldn't be responsible for determining what our credit scores are. 

[vanillabean]

---

@ChrisinKC wrote:

When people are impacted financially by FICO's scoring model, then maybe that's a sign that maybe, just maybe, a for profit company shouldn't be responsible for determining what our credit scores are.

---

You have a valid point. But somehow many tend to object to a neutral non-profit institution protected by the nation's government, perhaps due to even the slightest hint of regulation. Then again, most people may not know that tap water is regulated and bottled water is not.