Credit card question

[Bluga]

Say if i apply for a Citi bank credit card, i have to maintain a balance right? So my monthly purchases are deducted from there?.
Is there a transfer balance interest?
Is it possible that i send checks monthly to pay? Thanks.

this is the term:
-----------------------------------------------
Important information about the Balance Transfer offer

General Terms

A cheque stop payment request by you will result in a service fee of $10.

Any purchase balances you had before your balance transfer, any purchases subsequent to your balance transfer, and all cash advances made at any time, are subject to the standard interest charges currently in effect on your Citibank card. Your Citibank Canada MasterCard Cardmember Agreement explains how interest charges are calculated.

Payments and credits will be applied first to your balance subject to 6.9% promotional rate.

The interest on transferred balances subject to the 6.9% promotional rate will be calculated as follows:
We start with any balance and unpaid interest charges (at the 6.9% promotional rate) at the beginning of the billing period.


Each day during the billing period, we subtract payments and credits, add any transferred balances, and make adjustments to determine a daily balance.


To get the average daily balance, we total daily balances within a billing period (excluding the balance on the statement closing date), and divide it by the number of days in the billing period.


We multiply this balance subject to the promotional rate by the 6.9% promotional rate divided by 365. The resulting amount is your interest charge on transferred balances subject to the promotional rate.


For interest charge calculation purposes, the billing period begins on the statement closing date on the previous billing statement and varies with the number of days in the billing period.


This 6.9% promotional rate will be in effect for 6 months or until the transferred balance is paid off, whichever comes sooner, beginning when your transfer is completed. After that time, balances at the 6.9% promotional rate will become subject to interest charges at your standard Annual Interest Rate, in accordance with your Citibank Canada MasterCard Cardmember Agreement.

 

[Bluga]

help please

 

[goog]

<< Say if i apply for a Citi bank credit card, i have to maintain a balance right? So my monthly purchases are deducted from there?.
Is there a transfer balance interest?
Is it possible that i send checks monthly to pay? Thanks. >>



No
Huh? You get a set credit limit and can spend up to that amount say for example $2500. You get a statement each month with the balance due and minimum payment required.
Yes, it's 6.9% apparently.
Yes you can mail checks for payment.

 

[Bluga]

Thanks!

Does the transfer interest apply only intially and after that i can pay by check ?

 

[RossMAN]

Say if i apply for a Citi bank credit card, i have to maintain a balance right?

Wrong. Let's say your owing balance (amount charged) is $500 when your statement prints on Sept 10 but after Sept 10 you charge another $200. Your owing balance is $700 but you're only required to pay $500 since that's at the time your statement printed. It's best to payoff your credit card in full at the end of every month to avoid interest charges. It's like getting a 25 day free loan.

So my monthly purchases are deducted from there?.

I don't think I quite understand. Your monthly purchases are deducted from your available credit. So if your limit is $1,000 and you charge $300, you now owe $300 and your available credit is $700. Your minimum monthly payment will probably be $20 but you can and should pay the entire $300 to avoid interest charges. This is all reflected in your monthly statement you will receive.

Is there a transfer balance interest?

Yes. This is usually done while applying for your credit card, if you have already applied and been approved, no worries. After receiving your credit card call CitiBank and ask for them to mail you some checks. I know it sounds weird to have checks on a credit card. So if you wanted to payoff your Sears account you'd write Sears on the CitiBank check, mail it to Sears, Sears cashes it and applies it to your Sears account, that amount is charged against your CitiBank account. Hopefully you signed up with a promo where you get a low introductory rate? Usually anywhere from 0.3% to 1.9%.

Is it possible that i send checks monthly to pay? Thanks.

It's not only possible, it's required that you pay monthly. You can pay every two weeks if you want but you have to make at least one payment every 30 days, there are no ifs ands or buts about this. Usually you can pay one of three different ways:

1) Postal mail your check to CitiBank.
2) Online internet banking/ACH/autopay transfer/whatever you call it automatic paperless all computer payment stuff. CitiBank can either deduct from your bank's checking account the minimum payment or the entire balance, I don't believe there are any other options. Or if your bank offers internet banking then you can have them send whatever amount every month to CitiBank.
3) Call CitiBank and do a check by phone, read them the routing and account numbers on the bottom of your bank's checks and in 2-3 business days your checking account is debited and your CitiBank payment is processed. This is usually used for people who are past due, late payments, etc.

Most people opt for payment options 1 (mail) or 2 (electronic).

Which CitiBank credit card did you sign up for? I have their CitiBank VISA Dividends which I like a lot, no annual fee, low rate of 15.9% and I get 1% cash back on all purchases.

 

[RossMAN]

Have you already applied and been approved for a CitiBank credit card?

If yes, how long ago did you apply?
Do you know your credit card number yet?

 

[Bluga]

Hi i haven't applied yet because i'm a bit confused, thanks for the clarification. I've always used bank credit card and i get mixed up by reading transfer balance interest, thanks a lot!

 

[RossMAN]

Before I screw up your credit card endeavors let me say that what I have said above holds true for US credit cards. I'm not sure how Canadian credit cards work, you might want to ask one of our esteemed Canadians here (aka: Banished Americans In Exile).



I'd edit your original post and change the thread title to include something like,
Question about Canadian CitiBank credit card.

I do know that in the US, there is no difference between a bank credit card and a CitiBank credit card. Because after all CitiBank is a bank, a very large bank. The only differences are annual fees, interest rates and perks.

 

[Bluga]

<< Hopefully you signed up with a promo where you get a low introductory rate? Usually anywhere from 0.3% to 1.9%. >>



here in canada we get a "promo" of 6.9%

 

[chuckieland]

won't it kick A*s is they let you pay visa with mastercard, and pay mastercard with american express, and pay american express with Visa

 

[RossMAN]

won't it kick A*s is they let you pay visa with mastercard, and pay mastercard with american express, and pay american express with Visa

Yeah that'd be cool, do that for 10 years then finally payoff your $4.95 lunch.

 

[Bluga]

This is the link, is the info correct? Thank you



<< Or if your bank offers internet banking then you can have them send whatever amount every month to CitiBank. >>



Does this count as "balance transfer"?

 

[chansen]

Sorry kids, you can't pay off a credit card with a credit card without incurring interest charges. Purchases of mechandise will not incur interest charges until a balance is carried past the due date. But any cash advance incurs interest from the moment it is withdrawn. Same goes for credit card cheques. NEVER use credit card cheques. You will get them with new cards. Tear them up and throw them away.

CC Rule #1: Never carry a balance. Set it up with your bank to automatically pay off the FULL balance before the due date. The good ones will do that. If you don't have enough in the bank to do that, don't get a CC.

CC Rule #2: See CC Rule #1

CC Rule #3: If you get stuck, still do not carry a balance. Get a bank loan. That intro rate will disappear, do not get into the habit of using it.

If you think I'm wrong, I'd love to hear why. I love being right.

Craig

 

[RossMAN]

Actually here's the correct link (needed to click https instead of http).

<< Or if your bank offers internet banking then you can have them send whatever amount every month to CitiBank. >>

Does this count as "balance transfer"?

No. You're getting two things mixed up.

Balance Transfer is assuming you have credit card(s) that you owe money on as of today. If you DO NOT have any credit cards that you owe or don't want to payoff then forget about balance transfer. Balance Transfer is usually for people who sign up for a new credit card because of the low interest rate, so they move their owing balance from one credit card to another and so forth. Balance Transfer is essentially making a purchase because it comes out of your available credit. Question, do you have credit card(s) today that you want to payoff with your new CitiBank Sony card?

Internet banking is where your bank which you have your checking and savings accounts with either sends a check or electronically transfers funds from your savings/checking account and sends it to CitiBank to make a payment.

These are two distinctively different types of transactions.

 

[Bluga]

<< Question, do you have credit card(s) today that you want to payoff with your new CitiBank Sony card? >>



Yes exactly.

Is the "account number" on balance transfer my bank account number or credit card account number? <-- i think its credit card account right?

I don't have to do any transfer if i don't want to right?

 

[RossMAN]

Yes exactly.

Is the "account number" on balance transfer my bank account number or credit card account number?

Good. Your bank account number belongs to your checking account which is used to make payments, you are not paying off your checking account with your credit card, right?

The "account number" CitiBank is requesting for balance transfer is your other credit card account number. Before you enter the amount call your other credit card company and ask for a "payoff balance" this will probably be different than your last statement balance. Just make sure to CALL and request a PAYOFF BALANCE just to be safe.

 

[Emulex]

heh what the f*** are you guys doing? My citibank platinum select is prime+0.9% (currently 8.5%).

I just called them up and told them i was going to cancel my $10K limit platinum select unless they gave me a APR that was worthy of my cash ( i do carry balances ).

15% is highway robbery. My first credit card, a capital one piece o junk card with only $1600 limit runs 13.9% fixed apr...

Use this line on the citibank rep :

"I am considering TRANSFERRING OUT my balances to a lower interest credit card I just got, I would like to see if citi can do anything to keep me as a customer.."

They will drop your rates dramatically. The platinum select (plain ole) is the lowest rate card they offer. The affinity and cash back cards won't probably go down that low..

I'll be calling them back in a month or so when i pay down my balance to $0 and ask for prime rate..

 

[chansen]

Emulex,

Though I understand that you represent the majority of credit card users, why carry a balance at all? Making this sound normal frightens me.

Craig

 

[Emulex]

Because I can afford to purchase things now instead of waiting for the cash to come in.

I use my credit card to pay for all monthly expenses,
and if i want something I can't afford today, i'll buy it and pay some interest on it.

I think i pay $20 in interest a month. Thats like, um. Lunch one day?..

I suppose if you have the cash flow to keep yourself from going under, you don't think about inconveniences... My CC payment ranges from $1000-4000 per month depending on my expenses for the month.

Dunno about you, i make good money, but i don't have an extra $10 grand laying around.. If I see something that i want , i can still afford it

 

[chansen]

I guess I've always just considered it a slippery slope.

 

[bozo1]

Listen to Rossman - he has it right.

I lived a couple of summers in Canada and I can see where it can be confusing. There is not much in the way of checking accounts there as we in the US understand them (no little pieces of paper to write on and sign, etc.) . Most bills are paid via direct transfers out of your account either automatically, by visiting a teller or ATM machine, internet or telephone. While Internet banking/bill-pay is becoming a common option in the US, this has been automatic in Canada for many many years. When one reads an ad about 'balance transfers' it's easy to misunderstand what they actually mean.