mhesidence said:They can pay a mortgage directly.
Just to be clear--you are saying they can pay a mortgage directly with the BT and not with servicing a different mortgage?

DaveHanson said:They can pay a mortgage directly, as long as it isn't a PenFed mortgage (has to be a transfer to an outside company).Thanks for the confirmation. I applied for the card on their website and it said I was approved, however it still doesnt show on my Penfed user account. How long does it typically take for this to show up?

As a reference point for everyone. I just got denied for a PenFed card as I have 14 new accounts (AOR 13 months ago). Only 1 carries a balance right now, which I told them I was going to use their BT offer for it but they still said there's too many. Denied based on "pyramiding debts". No inquiries, 750+ FICO score, no bad remarks, etc. It either pulled Equifax or TransUnion as I have Exp frozen.

I did get the rep to say a little more details about it. She said they look at 18 months history so it looks like that is your safe point.

update: it did pull Equifax like others have posted.

I have an application in process. Any reason not to use this to pay off a second mortgage at 7.625% fixed? I can afford the 2% minimum monthly payment and even with the BT fee and tax deduction on the mortgage the math says this is a great deal. Anything else I'm missing?

My monthly minimum is 2.5%.

ThursdaysChild said:Auream said:jwk1000 said:DAWG said:Investment interest is tax deductible? I thought only mortgage and student loan interest was deductible (?)... I feel dumb. I have several credit cards right now at 1.9 and 2.9 for life that I invested the cash from and did not deduct the past 2 years. I'll be more careful on TurboTax next year.

Don't think you missed out because there are a lot of rules for this deduction. I was stopped by the 2% limit of AGI. If you had enough to claim you could file a 1040X, for the past three years. It would be a good exercise to figure it out so you remember to check it in the future.

2% of AGI Limit? I am not aware of such a limitation on investment interest. Article about Investment Interest Deduction on WSJ.According to that WSJ article, it's interest paid for investment purposes that's deductible, not investment income that happens to be interest.

Umm yeah, thats what we were talking about. Since when is ANY income "deductible!?" You deduct expenses, such as investment interest expense, not income. In this case, the expense is the 2.99% interest being paid to PenFed.

unixgirl said:I'm "under review -- check back in a few hours."

Does this really mean a few hours, or a business day?

Just call them and they'll tell you right over the phone, so you don't have to wait.

ChemEngGuy said:coolambo said:btw, they won't deposit the bt amount to a checking account. when i spoke to the csr, she said they'd have to pay off the accounts themselves. which means you have to pay the 1% (10 min, 100 max) balance transfer fee per loan you transfer.
Are there any strategies about how to get this BT money onto a mortgage?You can now do a direct transfer as cash to your Penfed account.

edit: Hmm, maybe not...it says this when you try to do it:

This transfer will be treated as a cash advance and finance charges will begin accruing immediately after the transfer has been processed.

Will have to get that clarified...

VVV not fast enough for Dave with the edit button

WooHoo! I got instantly approved for both the PenFed Visa Platinum Cash Rewards and Visa Gold credit card, 15k credit limit each! I plan on using my new Visa Gold card for the 2.99% lifetime balance transfer promo, and use my new Visa Platinum Cash Rewards card as my primary credit card. Thanks Pentagon Federal Credit Union!

abracadabra1 said:ilikebtmoney said:As a reference point for everyone. I just got denied for a PenFed card as I have 14 new accounts (AOR 13 months ago). Only 1 carries a balance right now, which I told them I was going to use their BT offer for it but they still said there's too many. Denied based on "pyramiding debts". No inquiries, 750+ FICO score, no bad remarks, etc. It either pulled Equifax or TransUnion as I have Exp frozen.

I did get the rep to say a little more details about it. She said they look at 18 months history so it looks like that is your safe point.

update: it did pull Equifax like others have posted.
I have approximately as many new accounts (same age, approximately 1 year from AOR), but no cards show any balance. Scores were in the 780 range. Applied for the PFCU card as part of an AOR (inquiries totaled 5,9, 7 after AOR). Approved for Platinum with 25k limit. I don't know if it makes a difference, but I'm also in the military.

I have a feeling the two cards with a balance (1 AOR card, and my normal spending card that gets paid off monthly) were really the problem. I thought it sounded odd based on the age as they were 13 months.

I've been a PenFed member for a while so I don't think the military status has anything to do with it though. But good reference point.