Get ~ $450 when you invest $10K from cc to 5% savings: a sorted list of 100 cards

**markber** · 05-22-2007, 06:45 AM

UPDATE: The lists were updated on 5/22/07. I excluded credit cards with losses this time.

**bigsaver** · 05-22-2007, 10:42 AM

Has anyone actually been able to actually make money doing this without being screwed by the credit card companies? I have been through 8 years of higher education, plus residency, and I still can't understand a word of the credit card disclosures.

**markber** · 08-30-2007, 03:44 AM

The lists were updated on 8/30/07

**Ima saver** · 08-30-2007, 06:44 AM

Well, I am trying it. I wrote a check for $5000 and put it in my money market account earning 5.12% There was no transfer fee and I am paying no interest for 14 months. I should make about $298 for just writing a check. So far, so good!

**Newbie** · 08-30-2007, 04:57 PM

Wouldn't this negatively impact your credit score? I don't think it's worth it for a few hundred bucks..

**MonkeyMama** · 08-31-2007, 01:43 AM

It doesn't necessarily negatively impact your credit score.

Yeah we have done quite well with the balance transfers. If you know how to work the system it is easy enough to beat them at their own game.

Since we borrow so little I find doing BTs helps our score. More in the long run than the short-term, but keep in mind a BT is temporary. If it hurts your utilization ratio, that goes away as you pay it off. I don't find it amounts to a hill of beans with an excellent credit score already. Also, if you have a partner you can spread out the balance transfers (less in each name) which is what we do. Or you could do all the BTs in one name and leave the other spouse with the good credit for loans and such. I find that a little risky myself, but spreading it means we kept both our utilization ratios low enough to not have it impact our score. Since we don't do much debt, I have found in the long run it boosts our score whenever we borrow money. I think in ima's case it will help since she has said she has no debt and a good credit score. She probably needs something like that to keep her score up. (Though a card or 2 paid off monthly would probably suffice).

**JimInOK** · 09-04-2007, 11:46 AM

Could someone explain how this works? Are you using the balance transfer feature and just telling them to transfer it to a savings account instead of to another credit card account with a balance on it? I'm not sure I'm getting it!

**safari** · 09-04-2007, 12:10 PM

Originally posted by JimInOK View Post

Could someone explain how this works? Are you using the balance transfer feature and just telling them to transfer it to a savings account instead of to another credit card account with a balance on it? I'm not sure I'm getting it!

A few months ago I received a 0% balance transfer offer from my Bank of America credit card (former MBNA) until December 2007. I gave them a call and they transferred $42,000 directly into my checking account, which i then transferred into my GMAC savings account. BofA only charged me $75 for the balance transfer. I realize that it's going to hurt my credit score because of the high credit utilization ratio (my credit limit on that card is $44,000), but this is only temporarily because I will pay off the entire balance in December. By the way, I recently got a letter from BofA with some changes to the account policies for the next year, and one of the changes is that they will be removing the cap on the balance transfer fees, which will be 3% of the transferred amount with no maximum. I guess more and more banks are now realizing that a lot of people are taking advantage of the 0% balance transfer offers and then pay the balances in full when the promotional period ends, so they are now raising the balance transfer fees in response.

**Ima saver** · 09-04-2007, 01:36 PM

In my case, I got 3 checks in the mail and the first one was to do anything you want with it. I could not find the car and did not know my limit, so I only wrote the check for $5000. It turns out my limit was $15,000
There was no balance transfer fee at all (which is unusual) and 0 % interest for about 14 months. I just put the check in my savings and am earning interest every month.
I have no debt, other than a credit card which I pay in full every month. My credit score was about 820, so i don't think this will hurt my score that much.

**MonkeyMama** · 09-04-2007, 03:49 PM

I got a check for one. The other one I transferred to my Citi card and asked for a refund of the credit balance. Citi is an easy way to get it in cash and generally does not charge any fees.

Check out My Money Blog - Personal Finance and Investing Blog I never thought to try it because I did not realize it was so easy to turn a balance transfer into cash. But this guy has some pretty detailed examples of how to go about it.

You'll see on his blog comments how technically you should be able to do a BT to any card and ask for a refund of your "negative balance" but some of the cards don't like it and will give you a hassle. Citi lets you just request the refund on their website - no hassle at all. Just FYI.

I would read all the fine print and be very careful though, seems more and more cards are making the whole thing harder. I don't think it is really for everyone.

**JasonEngler** · 09-15-2007, 10:28 AM

Is anyone considering the net AFTER taxes on this technique? Seems like an awful lot of risk involved for the outcome. Am I being too conservative?

Has anyone considered putting this in a high yield mutual fund for one year and done the math?

Curious...

**markber** · 02-14-2008, 04:30 AM

The list was updated on 2/14/08

Get ~ $450 when you invest $10K from cc to 5% savings: a sorted list of 100 cards