I find it hard to have them give me the high credit limit. Maybe the reason is that I am just the co-signer of the house and not the main person. My dh would get 26k on citi/ 15k on penfed/ 15k on MBNA, etc but I could only get around 10k for the citi card and 10k on MBNA. Oh, not to mention the fact that my dh got a lower credit score than me due to his past credit problem.

double post

fotomaniak:

I usually do keep it up until the time it becomes handy to consolidate. And I find a slightly higher incidence of 0% style offers on newer cards after I get the bonus or inital 0% offer - think of it as bait for an offer. This has worked on bofa and prinicpal bank cards - but not on chase or mbna.

Here's the PG snippet:
Length of credit history : On average, the age of your account(s) is 3 years and 6 months.
This is making your score lower. Having had credit accounts for a long time is a positive factor because your credit history allows lenders to evaluate how you typically use credit and repay your debts. Credit reports with approximately 30 years of history are considered optimal. Meanwhile, up to 7 years of history may be considered short, and less than 3 years of history is often considered too little. It is worth noting that your accounts may have been open longer than your credit reports suggest, as lenders can be slow to report new accounts to the credit bureaus. What matters is how long your accounts have been recorded in your reports.

I'm also skeptical of their math - but haven't checked it. They don't breakdown how much this hurts versus % of CL, but my hazy sense of it is that even when I have none over 50% I can't get my score much over 700. Didn't have PG but 3-4 years ago my CL age should have been much higher and I know my FICO was well over 700 - even though I had at least one >50% back then too.

Here's their snippet on 50% rule for me:
Credit usage : You are currently using at least 50% of your credit limit on 3 credit card(s).
This only includes open accounts for which the credit limit is reported.
This is making your score lower. High usage (such as balances above 50% of the credit limit) is usually considered negative, because lenders worry that you may be using more credit than you can reasonably afford to repay. Being "maxed out" or overlimit on a credit card (when your balance is close to, or above, the credit limit) is especially negative. The more accounts in this situation, the more it affects your score. Note that in some cases, such as for very high credit scores, as little as 20% usage may have a negative impact, although minor. Low usage, on the other hand, is usually considered positive because it provides lenders with information on how you use credit. It also shows that you do not need to use all of the credit available to you.


I also usually get this positive snippet - I don't see where in the world they get the 53K number?!?!:
Credit accounts : On average, the credit limit or loan amount of your credit accounts is $53,XXX(slightly changed to protect guilty). This only includes accounts for which the credit limit or loan amount is reported. Lost or stolen, transferred, or sold accounts may be excluded from this factor. This is making your score higher. Having accounts with a high credit limit or loan amount is a positive factor, because it indicates to a lender that other lenders have trusted you with a lot of credit in the past. On the other hand, having accounts with a low credit limit or loan amount is a negative factor. It suggests that you are just starting to use credit or that you have missed payments in the past. If you are just starting to use credit, lenders have little information to help them evaluate how you typically use credit and repay your debts. If you have missed payments in the past, you have demonstrated that you do not always pay on time, and lenders may worry that you will not repay them.

Dave:

Think the fako/fico stuff really makes this confusing - but in my case I'm pretty sure it's not the score that hurts as much as lender by lender rules on debt->income and pyramiding debts(got that one from penfed CC app).

However in my case the key isn't how long it takes the <50% balances to report, but how long it takes to replace the 50K or so in 0% CLs I'd be giving up. Plus I'd have to sell 50K or so in CDs and/or SBs or extend my HELOC, taking 6 month interest penalties in the CDs, and 3 month+taxes penalties in the SBs. I figure 2 months would cost me about .5K in HELOC interest or 1K in penalties/lost interest. But past experience makes me think it could take 6 months to two years to accumulate another 100K in 0%CL's - something like 1.5K-6K in HELOC interest or a total of 1.5K-5.5K in penalties/lost interest.

And to slightly complicate matters, several CRAs still report my deepgreen HELOC as revolving, haven't worried about this but if they don't fix this over time - a lot of that debt seems to count as well. My existing 0% accounts are already mostly in accounts with a 30K+ CL, doubt I'll be getting a lot more out of them.

Plus any rewards from such rejiggering would be potential, any loss of income would be real.

I find it hard to have them give me the high credit limit. Maybe the reason is that I am just the co-signer of the house and not the main person. My dh would get 26k on citi/ 15k on penfed/ 15k on MBNA, etc but I could only get around 10k for the citi card and 10k on MBNA. Oh, not to mention the fact that my dh got a lower credit score than me due to his past credit problem.

Do you ask them why? I sure would!

micecali said:
_______________________________________________________________________________

I currently have access to 40k at 0% apr. This is a combination of 2 credit from me + dh.
Is there a formular to figure out the minimum payment for this 40k loan?
Sorry, I google and it say around 3-5% of balance.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Check your terms that came with your credit card or the latest update. That should give you the answer. If you don't have them call your CC company. No rule of thumb will do as even a single issuer may have different minimum balance requirements for different users.

ero2 said:I have access to about 23k right now at 0% for 12 months, and a ING savings account. However, many people have alluded to the idea that because I am a student and still accepting and applying for financial aid, it would be a bad idea to have 23k in my ING savings account. Would this be the consensus of the people in this thread as well. I would like to make some extra money to pay down the remaining 4k balance on this card, but if it means giving up my student loans as a result of having so much in my savings account, then I will pass...

anyone have any thoughts here?

ghostwhisper said:I'm considering on doing an App O Ramma, I currently have about 8 pre approve 0% balance transfer offer. I current don't carry a balance with any card, What is the best way to transfer balance from these new line too obtain cash? I have browse and search the finance forum but cannot find a definite strategy. I'm thinking I will be getting between 50-100k in new credit line between all the card offers.

Citi will cut you a check for the BT money. If I recall correctly, Bank of America will too. Those are the only two banks I've BT'd with.

Other strategies I've read here are BTing to your debit card or BTing to a Citi card (not one that you just BT'd, of course), because they have an online system that lets you request money for your credit balance. But don't do it to MBNA or AMEX because supposedly they're anal about that.

ghostwhisper said:HKnight,

Thnx for the response. I currently have offers from Chase, US Bank, Providian, Discover, Bank One, Citibank. I'm applying for a new Credit card with these bank all pre approve 0% offer. Generally a bank wouldn't be so anal about a credit balance refund, but if the amount is quite significant I think that another story. Can you do balance transfer to your debit card and get the funds in your checking account? I can draw on my mbna line to have a direct deposit, then do a balance transfer there. but now I would have to pay a $50 balance transfer fee.

Any more suggestions.

Like HKnight said, Citi and BofA will send you a BT check. So will Chase, according to their "0% on purchases and BTs for up to 15 months" offer I saw in today's paper. (I just called & applied for that, and found you can ONLY request a BT check during the application process -- not later.) Chase makes the check out to you, while Citi and BofA may send you blank BT checks you can make out to anyone.

So assuming you can get a CL that will allow transferring all your other balances to the new card, write the BT check to yourself for the entire amount, then deposit it in your checking account and pay off the other cards from there.

I've never tried doing a BT to a debit card. Anyone?

shahabhinav said:Workingonit, do you have more details on this card - which card it is, what is the offer/promotion code in the ad.

You applied on phone - how long then is the processing time? I was thinking of applying online, but not sure then how/when do I request for BT check "in the application process"? Any experiences?

Thanks

The Chase offer I referred to (0% APR on BTs and purchases for up to 15 months) is Offer Code RU; call (800) 651-CHASE to apply (by July 31). No annual fee, but the BT fee is 3% ($5.00 minimum, $75.00 maximum per transaction, "unless otherwise disclosed to you in writing"). [Edit: That could conceivably mean the CSR has power to waive the BT fee?]

--So to avoid several different BT fees, you'd definitely want to get one single large BT check made out to yourself, and pay off your other cards from that. Note that you can ONLY request a BT check during that first phone call, while you're applying for the card; after you hang up, you'll be stuck doing individual BTs from your other cards if you haven't taken care of them at the start.

The CSR said I should hear within 30 days. She also said Chase might decide to issue me a card with Standard Pricing instead of the one described; such a card would NOT have BT capability (nor would it have 0% on anything -- not terribly useful).

I don't know anything about their online application; can't help you there. Applying by phone was very easy; I'd recommend it since you want to make sure you get the chance to request a BT check.

I must admit I was thrown off balance by being asked to name an amount for the BT check when I didn't even know what CL I would have, but I just went ahead and named a figure; the CSR said that if I do get Elite Pricing or Premium Pricing, they'll gladly issue me a BT check for up to $100 less than my credit limit.


I also saw another ad in Sunday's paper that you might be interested in:

AT&T Universal Card is offering 0% APR on BTs and purchases until July 1, 2006; apply at www.online.universalcard.com or call (800) 541-2579. Apply by August 15. No annual fee, and no BT fee "for balances you transfer in response to this offer." The ad does not give any promotion code.

--So again, you'd definitely want to ask them to issue you a BT check while you're on the phone applying for the card, in order to avoid the BT fee which otherwise would be 3% ($5.00 minimum, $75.00 maximum per transaction).