Credit card industry reins in balance-transfer offers as banks from JPMorgan to Amex fear defaults

[hegemony]

Credit card industry reins in balance-transfer offers as banks from JPMorgan to Amex fear defaults

 

no surprise that none of them want to be the last one holding the hot potato of consumers who can't PIF.

[nemo]

Yup, I was one of those who took balance transfers during the last recession, eventually leading to BK.

 

The other day, one of my card issuers sent me balance transfer checks for the first time since my BK, unsolicited.  I don't even remember which issuer it was; I shredded them as soon as I saw what they were.

[shifter]

Quote

Janette Scott, a retired accountant living in Florida, had been planning on using balance transfers to pay down her daughter’s school debt. She was recently told by eight banks that they no longer had them, Scott said in an interview. Just months before, they had flooded her with offers. 

“I have an excellent credit rating, am current with all my accounts, paying the balance in full every month,” Scott said. “This just doesn’t make any sense to me.”

How do they manage to find the biggest victims known to man for every single one of these ridiculous articles?

Edited June 28, 2020 by shifter

[hegemony]

28 minutes ago, shifter said:

How do they manage to find the biggest victims known to man for every single one of these ridiculous articles?

@VictimsRus

[StarkRaven$]

55 minutes ago, shifter said:

How do they manage to find the biggest victims known to man for every single one of these ridiculous articles?

I did not ask or need to do a balance transfer when I applied for the US Bank Cash Signature Card makes me wonder if that was a positive in approving me.

[hdporter]

5 hours ago, hegemony said:

Credit card industry reins in balance-transfer offers as banks from JPMorgan to Amex fear defaults

 

no surprise that none of them want to be the last one holding the hot potato of consumers who can't PIF.

 

If true, I've been oblivious.  OF course, I haven't been on the lookout for a good offer in the last 3 mo.

 

Still, my last 0% bt was mid March, when I took advantage of a 20-mo bt on one of Bev's BA cards (3% fee).  All things considered, I was thrilled with the terms.  If was a great place to park $11k in major purchase/home maint exp that we want to pay over time.   Works out to an equiv 4% APR, with gradual payoff of the debt.

 

Guess I'm on notice we may not have as attractive options next go around ...

 

[hegemony]

45 minutes ago, StarkRaven$ said:

I did not ask or need to do a balance transfer when I applied for the US Bank Cash Signature Card makes me wonder if that was a positive in approving me.

Well most issuers try to balance risk models with profit models so some might be more willing to approve for those doing a BT.

[StarkRaven$]

52 minutes ago, hegemony said:

Well most issuers try to balance risk models with profit models so some might be more willing to approve for those doing a BT.

Makes sense. No issuer thus far has made a penny off me.

[direct]

I just checked, no balance transfer offers from the cards that had offered me the most attractive offers up until about 3 months ago.  While I get that some banks don't want to take the risk, some people will now be forced into financial hardship that ordinarily would be fine when their balances go from 0% to 14% and most likely 20%+ interest scenarios overnight when their current balance transfer offers expire and they can't pay them off.

 

Fortunately, I only have one card with a balance and it's at 0% until March 2021.

Edited June 28, 2020 by direct

[MP80]

23 hours ago, hegemony said:

Well most issuers try to balance risk models with profit models so some might be more willing to approve for those doing a BT.

Yup. Tightened a little. These two graphs depict the three-month shortfall in balance transfers.   

 

 

 

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[Krish]

No need of BT for me as I am riding 0% purchases on Discover, 1 year. Hopefully they wont reduce my limit. 

[shifter]

3 hours ago, direct said:

some people will now be forced into financial hardship that ordinarily would be fine when their balances go from 0% to 14% and most likely 20%+ interest scenarios overnight when their current balance transfer offers expire and they can't pay them off.

Forced? Nobody forced them to borrow money they can't pay back. That's the definition of overextended. Rolling 0% BTs indefinitely isn't a God given right. 

[hdporter]

As a follow up to my initial post above, I just did a quick review of bt availability on Bev's and my cards.  Color me "oblivious" (referencing that prior post).

 

Discover is the stand out among our issuers in still offering a bt, albeit on less attractive terms than before (as @MP80 noted).  BA, Chase, Citi, & Barclays are a complete shut out on bt offers (spanning 20 accounts), with the exception of Bev's Chase Slate, on which her intro 0% no fee bt offer is still intact through August.

 

I feel fortunate in that we have no existing 0% bt bals that won't be pif prior to the end of their respective promo periods, and no immed plans for a major purchase where we'd be looking to avail ourselves of a new offer.

 

Surprisingly, it seems most issuers are still extending attractive bt offers as inducement for new card applications.  That's seems a fairly sharp double edged sword, in the current environment.  Citi, for example, is offering 20 mo at 0% with a 3% fee.  I can't help to wonder if an applicant would undergo considerably more scrutiny for approval than previously has been the case.  Bottom line, it would appear that issuers have decided (for now) that "better the devil you don't know, than the one you know"

 

 

[MP80]

If you have credit cards account with Chase and you need to borrow cash, please go to Chase account service, which provides credit options and tools, and will show you the offers. It is called a Chase loan to correlate to your credit card.  

 

 

 

 

Chase is currently strict in balance transfers, but the annual fee card provided is simply not attractive.  👎

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shifter]

5 hours ago, hdporter said:

Citi, for example, is offering 20 mo at 0% with a 3% fee.  I can't help to wonder if an applicant would undergo considerably more scrutiny for approval than previously has been the case.

 

The limits being offered on new approvals are down significantly, so the value would be limited unless you were able to move some from another card. 

[hdporter]

2 hours ago, shifter said:

The limits being offered on new approvals are down significantly, so the value would be limited unless you were able to move some from another card. 

Sounds like Bev may have been a bit on the nose when she expressed reservations about us closing down her $31k red Aviator (Barclays) for the sake of saving the $99 annual fee (she also has the Citi Exec Aadvantage for the sake of the airline lounge benefit).

 

Maybe we should have sprung for a no-fee replacement and transferred the limit first!

 

[CTSoxFan]

There was a similar thread a few weeks back where I noticed the same trend.  Across all the major issuers there are far fewer options available:

Chase - Consistently had offers on my FU and DWs F5 - now nothing

Citi - DWs 2 cards always had a BT offer available, now none.

Barclays - Was sporadic but haven't seen one in months

BoA - Both our cards always had 0% offers.  DWs card has none, mine has the option available, however at regular rate (19%)...hard pass.

US Bank -  Last year was getting offers monthly for mine and DWs cards, now nothing. 

 

As others mentioned, Discover is the outlier, as they are still showing offers, but reduced.  I also got a mail offer from Penfed recently for 0% for 12 or 0.99% for 18 which I may use as I have a 0% that ends in Jan and wouldn't mind locking it up for the additional time to see how things shake out.

[CTSoxFan]

2 hours ago, shifter said:

The limits being offered on new approvals are down significantly, so the value would be limited unless you were able to move some from another card. 

This is my biggest pause.  I don't need a card with a crap limit that just ends up in the drawer and can't take advantage of the BT rate/timing.

[hdporter]

CT remarks on one thing I neglected to ... the absence of even standard rate bt offers.  That surprised me, at first.  But then I realized how easily someone still accepting standard rate bt's might become a refuge for the "balanced chased".

[CTSoxFan]

1 hour ago, hdporter said:

CT remarks on one thing I neglected to ... the absence of even standard rate bt offers.  That surprised me, at first.  But then I realized how easily someone still accepting standard rate bt's might become a refuge for the "balanced chased".

In combing through US Bank also had a standard rate offer for me.  Could be an option for some if they happen to have an offer with a card that has an existing expiring transfer (transfer to card at std. rate and send back immediately to BT offer card...pay 2x transfer fees but likely cheaper than standard/non-promo rate)

Edited June 29, 2020 by CTSoxFan

[TheVig]

Like others here, my mailbox is no longer getting flooded with BT offers. However some of my issuers have offered 0% on purchases for 6 to 12 months. Just can't BT into them.

 

I have no need for BT offers.

[TheVig]

I wish Lending Tree would bring back Stanley. But this time show how Stanley learned his lesson 10+ years ago. Im sure the hate mail would go through the roof at Lending Tree.

 

[TJSpends]

9 hours ago, MP80 said:

If you have credit cards account with Chase and you need to borrow cash, please go to Chase account service, which provides credit options and tools, and will show you the offers. It is called a Chase loan to correlate to your credit card.  

 

 

 

 

Chase is currently strict in balance transfers, but the annual fee card provided is simply not attractive.  👎

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interestingly, when I got my Reserve in May, I had this option for a "loan" and while I didn't take it nor need it now, thought I'd see if it still exists online...nope, I don't see that option like I used to or like you do.  I also clicked on BT and it said I had no offer available.  Certainly an individual thing for sure.  

[hegemony]

I guess there is a new axiom... get BT offers when you can not when you need them

[MP80]

Adding an echo to TJSpend's slogan "this must be a personal thing" and I concur. Chase records all financial details to every transaction inside and outside of your checking account, including savings accounts whenever Chase looks at your EWS file plus do a soft on your credit bureaus reports to further check your current debts to adjust your risk factors.

 

As pointed out by CT, the balance transfer of Bank of America is still valid. I think these benefits may apply to people who don’t need it as Hege smartly delineated.