Credit Card Issuer FAQ

scripta said: excellent thread.

One more thing I'd be interested in seeing is whether the issuers report to the credit bureaus on a regular basis even if there was no activity / no statement generated.


This indeed is a good idea. personally the only cards ive never seen that aren't reported monthly are storeish cards like my Bestbuy CC and Dell DPA, all other major banks I got report monthly tho

nonchalant said: Anyone have any luck recently w/ chase BT'ing to checking accts?Yes, I just got a Chase Sony card. Called up CS and they were able to do a BT right to my DCU checking account over the phone with no problem.

Great idea to centralize info. Probably should put a link in the Forum FAQ.

nonchalant, I think that is a common confusion. Although of course it is specific to each promotion, generally I have seen that the 0% BT fee applies ONLY to the initial one submitted with the application (and thus the reason many call to do the BT the way they want when they open the card).

SweetCash said: I have reallocated some credit from a Citi AT&T Universal Rewards card to a Citi Simplicity Rewards. Both cards have the 0% BT available for the first 12 months, out of which only about 6 months have passed. To my surprise, after the reallocation, when I try to do a BT online on the Simplicity card, I see "There are no offers available online at this time." After speaking to a CS rep and her manager, they both confirmed there are no BT offers available at this time for my Simplicity card. And although this contradicts the initial terms when I opened the account, they said they can't do anything about it.

Did something similar happened to somebody else, or is this a new glitch in their system?
Any advice on how to still do a BT on the Simplicity card is appreciated.

P.S. Before the credit reallocation, I DID have the 0% BT offer on the Simplicity card online.I would continue up the management chain until this is resolved. Failing that, you may want to put the CL back on the AT&T card & do the BT on that, since that is supposed to have the same BT offer.

golf247 said: Another question about BT checks. If married and each person has individual bank accounts, can you write a BT check to spouse and bypass cash advance fees (independent of CC issuer)?

My wife was able to make a BT check out to me from her BoA card. It was treated as a regular BT.

on my Chase Platinum Visa (7.99% fixed) I can do balance transfers online:

6.99% Fixed APR until the balance is paid in full with no transfer fee. (Respond by: 7/31/06)
4.99% Fixed APR until the balance is paid in full. (Respond by: 7/31/06)
0% Fixed APR until the first day of your billing cycle that includes 12/1/06. (Respond by: 7/31/06)
5.99% Fixed APR until the balance is paid in full with no transfer fee. (Respond by: 8/31/06)
3.99% Fixed APR until the balance is paid in full. (Respond by: 8/31/06)
0.99% Fixed APR until the first day of your billing cycle that includes 1/1/07. (Respond by: 8/31/06)

unfortunately, I have a little bit of a balance i'm paying off, so it may not be wise for me to take advantage of any of these offers

Can we add "credit reporting agency" to the list? Or is it not always the same?

I called Chase yesterday to reallocate credit lines (I actually have 3 or 4 lines I want to combine), and upon attempting the first one, the CSR said that I needed to call back between 7-10est to speak to their credit dept. I've allocated lines with them before with no problems.

Anyone have any idea what would cause this?

I recently opened 3 accounts with Chase (1 biz, 2 personal)...would that have an impact?

dustin72 said: I called Chase yesterday to reallocate credit lines (I actually have 3 or 4 lines I want to combine), and upon attempting the first one, the CSR said that I needed to call back between 7-10est to speak to their credit dept. I've allocated lines with them before with no problems.

When I got my first two Chase cards, I called for a CLI on one of them before activating. I let the CSR talk me into a reallocation instead. A few days later, I decided to reverse the reallocation and CLI as I originally intended. The CSR lowered the CL on the card I reallocated to, and then told me he couldn't put it on the card it originally came from. OK, then put it back on the card you just took it from. "I can't do that either, the system won't let me. Did you already do this recently?" The problem was that I hadn't waited long enough between reallocations. The credit department fixed it for me the next day.

EDIT: Nevermind. I found what I needed.

Do we have a list that notes which CRA each issuer gets its reports from when you apply for new accounts? I'm currently loaded up on Experian and Transunion pulls, so I'm looking for an issuer that pulls Equifax reports (other than AMEX). If we don't have that info in any one place, I can start updating the Quick Summary from the pulls on my credit report.

ThursdaysChild said: How about linking it for the rest of us?

Sure thing. The best resource I found is here. It looks like pulls may not be 100% consistent within issuers and may depend on the actual card applied for. The bad news for me is that the big issuers that pull Equifax seem to be AMEX, HSBC, and GEMB. I don't need store credit or a secured card -- and I'm just getting back in AMEX's good graces after a debacle while I was in law school (which was removed from my credit reports).

Updated AMEX CLI info in the quick summary. CLIs are allowed every 30 days not every 6 months.

I didn't research US Bank since the CC has a 3% BT fee with NO CAP. The 0% offer is only for 6 months, so the card is worthless for an AOR.

See http://www.usbank.com/cgi_w/cfm/credit/ns2_0.cfm which links to
https://applications.usbank.com/oad/catalog/terms.controller?step=display&locationCode=8069&productId=20

cardjuggler said: I didn't research US Bank since the CC has a 3% BT fee with NO CAP. The 0% offer is only for 6 months, so the card is worthless for an AOR.

There was a 0% for 12 months no fee from USBank (phone/mail app only)... it came in one of those coupon mailers. I'd dig up the code, but I am pretty sure it expired 12/31.

i updated summary. had a 0% BT offer from CapOne. paid off, but then requested a check 10 months into offer, and they sent one to me in my name. no fee.

Bump. I made lots of misc. updates to the Quick Summary, including an attempt to extract info. from several related threads (linked at the bottom of the QS). Substituting CC Issuer for the field labels, here's an extract:

BT to checking _____:
Advanta _: yes, gave them my checking account and routing #s over the phone (1/30/07)
AMEX ____: no
BoA _____: yes (by phone)
CapOne __: yes (During initial card sign up over the phone, check sent in mail to CU - byex0039)
Chase ___: usually NOT within first 3 months (exception: Chase Perfectcard in March 2005 -s0meguy)
Citi ____: yes with checks (CSR says they don't do ACH anymore, 1/22/07)
Discover : maybe (YES - my BT on Gas Card to checking just went through) - brettdacosta
Elan ____: no (at least, not PNC card)
FNB Omaha: no, but will send BT check of up to $11,000
HSBC ____: yes "allows BT directly to a checking account (of course, as long as it's not an HSBC Bank account) " - crix2001 on 1/13/06
Juniper _: no
RBS _____: yes (via checks)

BT to LOC w/ app ___:
Discover : yes (in theory, though it hasn't arrived yet)
FNB Omaha: yes (in theory anyway; the application asks for an address)
RBS _____: no (it asked for a payment address but "Account# cannot be less than 15 characters")

CLI w/o hard pull __:
AMEX ____: yes (online, with generous increases)
BoA _____: "always a soft pull" (fafura on 2007-04-07) but YMMV
Chase ___: not possible, but if denied online may get approved by calling (while the credit report is still on file)
Citi ____: when requesting online, if it does NOT ask you to fill out a form, then it gets approved with only a soft inquiry (if it does present the form, just cancel to avoid the hard inquiry)
Discover : can ask for immediate by phone (soft pull); if that's not enough can ask for reconsideration (hard pull; and my result in a lower offer!); over $15K may require a hard pull (dlr3)
US Bank _: by phone

Time between CLI ___:
AMEX ____: 30 days
BoA _____: 1 week (ask for $500 or $1000); http://www.fatwallet.com/t/52/671714/9768099; earlier report: 9 months
CapOne __: no CLI requests, auto only (except via retention; TBD: link to the thread)
Citi ____: 1 month (dlr3); others report 6 months
Discover : 3 months (dlr3); 6 months (unknown)

Reallocate CL ______:
AMEX ____: yes (unusual in that personal/biz reallocation is possible)
BoA _____: yes (Jagd71 10/24/06, therivler1 11/06, CardJuggler 12/06; earlier reports said NO)
CapOne __: no? (though "combine credit lines" was shown as "yes" in a previous version; CardJuggler 12/26/06)
Chase ___: yes (including personal/biz per this thread)
Citi ____: yes, including business (therivler1 11/06); exceptions: Home Rewards (CardJuggler 12/06), Citi Professional and some branded cards such as Quicken, though some were able to move CitiBusiness to CitiProfessional; AT&T: some can't move credit line (e.g. http://www.fatwallet.com/t/52/632935/10444265), some can (e.g. http://www.fatwallet.com/t/52/237296/10445112)
Discover : maybe (Yes: dr84, jimbocobb, CardJuggler 12/06) (NO: mhudson, Pakaderm)
HSBC ____: yes for HSBC (Visa to Visa or MC to MC), no for GM (CardJuggler 12/06, at least between my old "GM Card" and new "GM Flex Card")
Juniper _: yes. call 866.408.4064 to speak directly with the credit dept.
RBS _____: no
WaMu ____: no (CardJuggler 12/06: I spoke with 2 different reps though YMMV)

An aside: I wonder if it's worth prefixing every field with the CC issuer name to simplify this type of extract-and-sort?

I received BT check from HSBC. It says that I can fill in the bank or store name and the amount I wish to pay.
Can I use it to deposit into my checking account?
Did anyone try this before?

I could not change NWA into anything else. Which changes are allowed?

NJObserver - I just opened a HSBC Card account and also got the BT checks shortly after the new card arrived, however it was faster to just call the customer service number on the back of the card and HSBC will ACH the BT funds direct to your checking account (no check needed) - no wait for the check or possible check hold from your bank or credit union.

Just called Discover regarding a CLI.. they said they cant do it without a hard pull until the account has been open for 6 months.