"Buy what thou hast no Need of and ere long thou shalt sell thy Necessaries." - Benjamin Franklin
logo

Go Back   Saving Advice > Financial Chit Chat > Personal Finance

Personal Finance Credit cards, home loans, retirement plans and taxes. The place for all your personal finance questions.

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
  #1 (permalink)  
Old 01-11-2007, 10:59 AM
Elgin526 Elgin526 is offline
$ Saving HS Senior
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Elgin, IL
Posts: 273
Last Blog Entry: I'm baaaack!
Points: 2671.40
Donate
Default 0% balance transfer questions

Right now all of our CC debt is on a single credit card (Citibank) that is at 0% interest. That will expire in June. Obvioulsy I want to transfer it to another 0% offer since it won't be paid off by then.

In addition to Citibank, I already have cards with Chase and Capitol One. The Chase is used for all our monthly purchases and paid off monthly. The Capitol One card is in a drawer and hasn't been used since I did my initial balance transfer.

My first question is, If I see that either Chase or Capitol One has a 0% offer that I like (and I don't know if they do, I haven't checked yet), can I apply for a new card from either of them and get the 0% offer, or are 0% offers only for brand new customers?

My second question is, if my 0% offer that I have with Citibank expires in June, when should I initiate another balance transfer so I don't have to pay Citibank any interest? I don't want to do it too soon, but if I wait too long, it may not transfer fast enough and I'll have a balance when the offer expires, and they'll charge me.
Reply With Quote
  #2 (permalink)  
Old 01-11-2007, 05:22 PM
neatdesign's Avatar
neatdesign neatdesign is offline
$ Saving Jr. College Student
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Virginia, USA
Posts: 380
Points: 6554.90
Donate
Default Re: 0% balance transfer questions

Question #1 - If I see that either Chase or Capitol One has a 0% offer that I like (and I don't know if they do, I haven't checked yet), can I apply for a new card from either of them and get the 0% offer, or are 0% offers only for brand new customers?

That will depend on the specific terms of the individual offer. Most likely, you do not need to be a new customer in order to qualify. People are allowed to have multiple credit cards with the same company, after all. However, if the offer states it's only for new customers, then it's only for new customers. As with any credit card offer, read the fine print. Then read it again. Then read it a third time.


Question #2 - If my 0% offer that I have with Citibank expires in June, when should I initiate another balance transfer so I don't have to pay Citibank any interest?

Answer #2 - Generally speaking, most credit card companies will say to allow anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 weeks for a balance transfer to go through, but only AFTER your application has been approved -- and that takes additional time. If you're applying for a brand new account, I would aim for doing the application 4 to 6 weeks before your Citibank 0% expiration date to allow enough time for BOTH the application and the BT to be processed. If you're simply transferring to an existing account, though, you could do it 2 to 3 weeks before Citibank's 0% expiration and you should be ok.

(BTW, having previously worked for Capital One, I can tell you that your chances of getting 0% BT offer on an existing account is somewhere between zero and none.)

~ Jenney
Reply With Quote
  #3 (permalink)  
Old 01-12-2007, 03:11 PM
Elgin526 Elgin526 is offline
$ Saving HS Senior
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Elgin, IL
Posts: 273
Last Blog Entry: I'm baaaack!
Points: 2671.40
Donate
Default Re: 0% balance transfer questions

Groovy! I'll apply for a new account (with whoever) late March/early April and do the balance transfer once I get approved, that should get it taken care of before my offer expires in June.

Thanks for that tip on CapOne, my credit is excellent so I still have plenty of other CC companies to choose from.
Reply With Quote
  #4 (permalink)  
Old 01-12-2007, 04:10 PM
Tree0164 Tree0164 is offline
$ Saving College Junior
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,385
Last Blog Entry: Understanding Life Insurance
Points: 16002.50
Donate
Default Re: 0% balance transfer questions

It really depends. Call them up and ask what can you do for a balance transfer let them know that you are getting 0% offers.....
Reply With Quote
  #5 (permalink)  
Old 01-12-2007, 05:26 PM
kv968 kv968 is offline
$ Saving College Sophomore
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 879
Points: 12702.40
Donate
Default Re: 0% balance transfer questions

Quote:
Originally Posted by Elgin526
Thanks for that tip on CapOne, my credit is excellent so I still have plenty of other CC companies to choose from.
If you keep applying for credit and bouncing from cc to cc, your excellent credit may start being not so excellent so be careful.
__________________
The easiest thing of all is to deceive one's self; for what a man wishes, he generally believes to be true.
- Demosthenes
Reply With Quote
Reply



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
balance transfer offers ? markio26 Personal Finance 9 02-16-2007 10:11 AM
how do u get around balance transfer and cash advance fee jdgay22 Personal Finance 7 07-31-2006 07:18 PM
Balance Transfer effects on Credit Score 6FeetUnder Personal Finance 2 06-23-2006 07:42 AM
CC Balance Transfer Question emnah94 Personal Finance 7 03-14-2006 03:09 PM
Transfer CC Balance, Get New Computer jeffrey Personal Finance News, Articles & Blog Posts 0 04-02-2004 03:22 AM



Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2012, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
SEO by vBSEO 3.0.0 RC6 © 2006, Crawlability, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 SavingAdvice.com. All Rights Reserved.