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Balance Transfer Help

July 10th, 2015 at 03:31 pm

We put the remainder of the roof on one of my credit cards with the intention to transfer it to two of my other credit cards that have 0% balance transfer offers. I have never transferred a balance before and need some advice.

Citicards is giving me two options. The first is that I can use the balance transfer as a personal loan and they will deposit the money into my bank account. I can use the balance transfer rate to do this and it will be 0% until 3/1/2016 for one of the cards and 10/1/2016 for the other.

The second is that they will send a check to the creditor.

For some reason it feels more risky to have them send the funds to the Southwest card. What if they don't make it in time? What if it gets lost and I have to track down the payment?

Has anyone had experience with the personal loan option? I'd feel more in control of everything if it was up to me to pay the Southwest card. Also, if the check was late, I'd have enough notice to transfer money out of my own accounts to pay for it. The Southwest card isn't due until the 28th so I would hope that would be enough time to deal with all this.

Is there anything I'm missing?

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

8 Responses to “Balance Transfer Help”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    July 10th, 2015 at 03:40 pm 1436542845
    1436542845

    Is the interest rate of 0% the same regardless of which offer you take? if only one way is 0% then I would do that one. Smile I haven't personally done a balance transfer, but I'd like to be more in control as well. I think they generally go just fine if you give the correct account and address information.

  2. jokeabee Says:
    July 10th, 2015 at 03:45 pm 1436543119
    1436543119

    It is 0% either way. My other option is to wait for the statements to come in the mail (hopefully today or tomorrow) and then hope they have the balance transfer checks on them. They have in the past but I've never needed them.

  3. creditcardfree Says:
    July 10th, 2015 at 03:48 pm 1436543322
    1436543322

    I'd just go with what feels right to you. There is likely a balance transfer fee you are aware of that right?

  4. CB in the City Says:
    July 10th, 2015 at 03:53 pm 1436543637
    1436543637

    In the past, I have made balance transfers to 0% interest cards, and I never had a problem with late payment or lost funds. In fact, it was always very fsst. That said, you should do what feels comfortable if the rate is the same.

  5. jokeabee Says:
    July 10th, 2015 at 04:01 pm 1436544081
    1436544081

    Yes, there is a 3% transfer fee that we have factored in.

    Thanks for the help and information. I have never done a transfer before and I am a nervous person by nature so my head is thinking of all the ways this can backfire Smile

  6. Kiki Says:
    July 10th, 2015 at 04:06 pm 1436544387
    1436544387

    I've made balance transfer in the past and never had a problem with the creditor receiving the checks. Once you put the account information in they will send the money pretty quickly. Just monitor your creditor account to make sure it shows up, usually in 10 days or so. Just make sure that if the check hasn't been received by the due date you process the minimum payment.

    I don't feel the personal loan is a good idea. While they say it is 0% they often look at it as an advance which racks up fess differently.

    Make sure of the fees you will be charged and ask them how the payment you make is allocated. Sometimes the fees are paid last and regular interest accrues on the fees because they pay the 0% balance first.

  7. snafu Says:
    July 10th, 2015 at 06:27 pm 1436552850
    1436552850

    If you generally pay CCs, bills etc electronically, it's a simple process to create an automatic payment to be released two business days before each item's due date. I've been doing this since electronic banking was offered without difficulty or glitches. I was a bit nervous the 1st time I was doing this while based off shore but so long as I minded the fact that we were one day ahead, I was fine.

    Are you taking two 0% CCs because the cost of the roof exceeds the balance on the card that extends to October 2016? I wondered how this process affects your FICO type score. I hope you'll track it via Discovery card or quarterly free credit checks. It would be a helpful point of knowledge for SA participants.

    Please don't worry the CC grantors do millions of these processes every year

  8. jokeabee Says:
    July 10th, 2015 at 07:19 pm 1436555971
    1436555971

    Snafu- I already have these two credit cards. They have been offering me 0% balance transfers since I have opened them and this is the first time I am going to take them up on it. I imagine my credit score will take a slight hit because these two cards will be maxed out for a month, but I will be paying it down significantly each month so it won't take long to get it back up. It's in the 750s right now but I will update periodically if it goes down or up.

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