A Credit Ed Posted July 10, 2023 Share Posted July 10, 2023 Need to BT about $12,000 total from a Discover and a Cap1 BT that is expiring next month. Was planning on splitting that among two or three cards due to keeping credit usage per card under 30%. But I was approved for a Commerce Bank 0% BT fee card for $17,500. If I transfer both Disc and Cap1 over to Commerce, I pay no fee but would use ~71% of available credit. I'm thinking it's worth the FICO hit to avoid the 3% BT fee other cards would have.. My only fear is that some other lender might see 70+% usage on one card and balance chase me. Any reason not to go over 70% on a single card? No other card ever goes above 5-10%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdporter Posted July 10, 2023 Share Posted July 10, 2023 You've been holding out on us! I wasn't aware Commerce Bank had a credit card with intro terms that provided no-fee balance transfers! I tried to find such a card and failed. I've avoided Commerce credit cards until now, deeming them "nothing special". I'd love to have an app for your card up my sleeve at a future date! As to your question, a single account at up to 80% utilization isn't likely going to raise any red flags. Your score will take a moderate hit of, maybe, up to 20-30 points. But provided you have a strong score to begin with (say 760+), or you don't intend to apply for anything until you're back under 50%, there's likely little in the way of consequence. (If you fix monthly payments at 4%+ of your highest bt balance, you'll look good on manual review.) Foremost, credit is a tool; use it as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Credit Ed Posted July 10, 2023 Author Share Posted July 10, 2023 1 hour ago, hdporter said: I wasn't aware Commerce Bank had a credit card with intro terms that provided no-fee balance transfers! It was a preapproval that came in the mail. Nowhere during the application process could I see the 0% fee for the BT, so I will certainly be keeping the letter they mailed me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shifter Posted July 10, 2023 Share Posted July 10, 2023 I had good luck keeping BTs below 69.5%. That's what I would recommend for long-term holding. I would BT no more than $12,160 and just pay the rest off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdporter Posted July 11, 2023 Share Posted July 11, 2023 19 hours ago, A Credit Ed said: It was a preapproval that came in the mail. Nowhere during the application process could I see the 0% fee for the BT, so I will certainly be keeping the letter they mailed me. Smart thing to do. FWIW, at some point, in accepting the offer, there was likely a link to click on to review terms again. But, as you know, you'll be presented with the bt terms again at the point that you initiate a transfer. Congrats on a nice find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorer_714 Posted July 26, 2023 Share Posted July 26, 2023 Just started to get back into the BT/0% on purchases game again since its heyday. I remember all the banter back then how my credit was going to be destroyed with so many cards at 100%. Well that never happened but I would not recommend it for everyone. I am mainly focusing on business cards now. Not going to get rich but 100k in T-bills is not chump change. Ink Cash and Unlimited are great cards for this especially with the SUB/referral. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greendeh Posted August 4, 2023 Share Posted August 4, 2023 On 7/10/2023 at 4:53 PM, A Credit Ed said: Nowhere during the application process could I see the 0% fee for the BT, so I will certainly be keeping the letter they mailed me. Quote APR for Balance Transfers 0.00% Introductory APR for 12 monthly billing cycles after account opening. After that, your APR will be 19.24% to 30.24% ---- Transaction Fees- Balance Transfer Either $10 or 5% of the amount of each Balance Transfer, whichever is greater. This is from their pdf for the "Special Connections" visa. "View Important Terms for the Special Connections® Visa® [PDF]" Just a heads up. I would suggest inquiring with them about the transfer fee beforehand rather than fighting a 5% fight after the fact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Credit Ed Posted August 5, 2023 Author Share Posted August 5, 2023 1 hour ago, greendeh said: Just a heads up. I would suggest inquiring with them about the transfer fee beforehand rather than fighting a 5% fight after the fact. moot point - the transfer has hit my account and there was no transfer fee charged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greendeh Posted August 5, 2023 Share Posted August 5, 2023 Completely valid point and I am glad you truly got a 0% transfer offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supern8ural Posted September 6, 2023 Share Posted September 6, 2023 (edited) Do you mind sharing which exact card this was? I don't actually need another card ATM but this is one feature I do not have on any card currently, and actually could have saved me a couple hundred bucks ~18 months ago. Edit: never mind, after opening the PDF you linked I see it's the Special Connections (R) card. Now I have to decide if I want to apply for another card. Edited September 6, 2023 by supern8ural Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supern8ural Posted September 6, 2023 Share Posted September 6, 2023 Welp, it looks like I don't have a decision to make - they don't have any branches near me, so no can do apparently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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