Balance Transfer Question

[aphex]

Ok, 1 card I have has a 3.99% balance transfer promo (9 mths) right now...

The other card (AMEX) does not and currently has a $0 balance.

If i initiate a $500 balance transfer from the 3.99% card to the Amex (which currently has no balance), i understand my account will therefore reflect a -$500 balance.

My question is though, with a negative balance, will they send me a check?

 

[aphex]

anyone know?

 

[sixone]

I'm not sure I understand your description.

The promo is only for balances you transfer to the 3.99% card. Anything you transfer from that account won't apply to the promo.

In any case, they won't send you a check unless you call and request it.

 

[aphex]

ooops, i said that backwards...

I basically want my 3.99% card to send a balance transfer check to my Amex... Leaving my amex w/ -$500

 

[Whisper]

I'm not sure Amex would actually accept the balance transfer check considering you have a $0 balance.

Trying to figure out a creative way of getting around insane cash advance rates?

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I can see one of two scenarios if you try that:

1) CC fraud, FPMITAP
2) Is deemed a purchase instead of a transfer, thus they charge you full 21% (or more) interest plus fees.

 

[aphex]

Well i've recieved balance transfer checks before, and they've said "Pay off your CC Debt, or send money to anyone!", in fact I used one 2 years or so ago to pay a friend who i owned $400 to.

 

[Whisper]

Well, as far as I know, if you send the money to an individual, or in any other way use it to do something other than pay towards an existing CC balance, you'll be charged the cash advance rather than the balance transfer interest rate.

 

[RossMAN]

Why not write the balance transfer check to yourself? Some BT checks will allow this.

Otherwise you would have what's called a credit balance. So technically YES you can call Amex and request they send you a check for your credit balanace.

 

[kranky]

There are no legal issues with this whatsoever.

The best way to handle this is to see if you can get the BT check issued to yourself. If that doesn't work, you can try the AmEx thing. A $500 overpayment probably won't raise any eyebrows. Then you could request a refund check.

Where people get into trouble is doing that when the amount is huge and bigger than the credit line on the card they transferred the balance to.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Why not write the balance transfer check to yourself? Some BT checks will allow this.

Otherwise you would have what's called a credit balance. So technically YES you can call Amex and request they send you a check for your credit balanace.

Because this time they didn't send me actual checks in the mail, its only online where i have to fill in the acct #.

 

[flexy]

i dont understand your question.

does card 1 HAVE a balance ?

If...then (AFAIK) you're onle able to transfer THAT balance from card 1 to the AMEX......so if you have $300 on card 1 you can only transfer $300 to AMEX. You cant transfer a balance which you dont HAVE


If card 1 has 0 then there IS nothing to transfer

So i dont understand how you magically would create a "negative" balance whereas a CC company would send you a check ?

 

[Scarpozzi]

Normally, they will charge you a small percentage not to exceed $75 on balance transfers. Read the fine print.

 

[akshatp]

I sent $3500 to my Chase card as a balance transfer from Citibank once. I hadn't made the purchase on the Chase card yet, and yes, the $3500 sat in a credit on my Chase card for almost 2 months before I bought the bedroom set. I could have requested a check if I wanted.

no issues here.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
Normally, they will charge you a small percentage not to exceed $75 on balance transfers. Read the fine print.

yep, its right there, 2% (min $10, not to exceed $90)

 

[flexy]

>>>
If i initiate a $500 balance transfer from the 3.99% card to the Amex (which currently has no balance), i understand my account will therefore reflect a -$500 balance.
>>>

you mean a $500 BT FROM the (0 balance) Amex to the 3,99% promo card ? As above...if you dont have a balance..then what would you transfer ?
Just my understanding.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: flexy
i dont understand your question.

does card 1 HAVE a balance ?

If...then (AFAIK) you're onle able to transfer THAT balance from card 1 to the AMEX......so if you have $300 on card 1 you can only transfer $300 to AMEX. You cant transfer a balance which you dont HAVE


If card 1 has 0 then there IS nothing to transfer

So i dont understand how you magically would create a "negative" balance whereas a CC company would send you a check ?

Basically he's trying to turn his balance transfer offer into cash.

He's NOT paying off any existing cc balances

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

If you have a zero balance you have no balance to transfer. It would probably be treated as a cash advance.

 

[aphex]

They don't "transfer the balance" per say, they just send a check to the other credit card.

 

[akshatp]

Originally posted by: aphex
They don't "transfer the balance" per say, they just send a check to the other credit card.

Read my post above and end this thread. It wont be a cash advance. You can transfer the $500 to AmEx and request a check without any problems.

 

[Strk]

It's a cash advance, not a balance transfer. You can only transfer a balance when you have a balance to transfer. I'm not even sure you can do a cash advance directly to another CC either.

 

[kranky]

When you hear "balance transfer', don't think of it as a literal transferring of a balance you owe. Think of it as "We'll send money to another CC account you have." It makes no difference if the other account actually has a balance.

Whether it is treated as a purchase (good for the customer) or a cash advance (bad for the customer) is dependent on the specific offer, but it's very rare for a balance transfer offer to be treated as a cash advance. If that were so, no one would do it. You also have to read the fine print to see if there is a fee attached to the balance transfer offer.

Imagine if you could get a 0% balance transfer offer, with no fees, that lasted a year. And you could figure out a way to get that money into your own pocket. You could put it in the bank, collect interest, then make the payments until it's paid back and come out ahead.

Some people make thousands of dollars a year doing this. But they are very savvy, experienced people who know the ins and outs of doing this. It's not for beginners. But a $500 deal should go off without a hitch.

 

[akshatp]

Originally posted by: kranky
When you hear "balance transfer', don't think of it as a literal transferring of a balance you owe. Think of it as "We'll send money to another CC account you have." It makes no difference if the other account actually has a balance.

Whether it is treated as a purchase (good for the customer) or a cash advance (bad for the customer) is dependent on the specific offer, but it's very rare for a balance transfer offer to be treated as a cash advance. If that were so, no one would do it. You also have to read the fine print to see if there is a fee attached to the balance transfer offer.

Imagine if you could get a 0% balance transfer offer, with no fees, that lasted a year. And you could figure out a way to get that money into your own pocket. You could put it in the bank, collect interest, then make the payments until it's paid back and come out ahead.

Some people make thousands of dollars a year doing this. But they are very savvy, experienced people who know the ins and outs of doing this. It's not for beginners. But a $500 deal should go off without a hitch.

:thumbsup: