chase card offer - WWYD?

[Deleted]

I have been receiving (and throwing away) a lot of credit card offers lately. I hadn't received any for a really long time, but they have started back up again. I received one yesterday in the mail though that caught my eye. It's for a Chase Freedom card, offering 0% on balance transfers until April 2012 with a 3% transfer fee and $100 cash back bonus with your first transaction. The fine print states "You will receive your bonus after your first purchase/first use of card, which includes purchases, balance transfers, or any checks used to access the account, excluding cash advances."
Here's my situation:
I'm currently paying two credit card balances. A closed Citi card with a $1700 balance and 9.99%APR, which I am paying $250 a month toward and should be paid off by the end of the year. My other card is a Bank of America card with a balance of $5400 and a 13.49%APR which I am currently paying $150 towards until that Citi is paid off, at which point I'll start putting $400 a month towards the BOA. Neither card is being used.
I'm trying to figure out if it would be in my best interests to apply for this "pre-approved" Chase offer and transfer the BOA balance to it. I figured I would be paying about $160 in transfer fees to do this, but at this point, I'm paying a lot more than that in interest to BOA. Plus, I'd get that $100 reward, so I'd really only be paying $60 in transfer fees. My only concerns are that I would get approved, get the card, and get a crappy limit that wouldn't cover the full balance transfer; and also that I'm looking to refinance my car this summer for a lower rate with my credit union and don't want any dings on my credit report by applying for another card.
If I would apply for this Chase card, and not get at least a $5k limit, I wouldn't want the card at all. I only want it for the 0% balance transfer and would be closing it after that's paid off. YM hasn't steered me wrong yet - what are your opinions?

[qofcc]

I would wait until you refinance the car, then apply immediately for the card, before the car refinance shows up on your credit report. Even if you don't get the full 5K, you could transfer as much as they'd give you.

[Deleted]

Mar 29, 2011 9:29:50 GMT -5 qofcc said:

I would wait until you refinance the car, then apply immediately for the card, before the car refinance shows up on your credit report. Even if you don't get the full 5K, you could transfer as much as they'd give you.

Ok, but my credit union offers refinancing specials in July, which I'm waiting until then to refinance. This 0%APR offer expires in April 2012, so if I wait until mid-summer to do it, it wouldn't even be worth it for me. I'd only get 7 or 8 months out of it instead of a full year. Plus, it says my pre-approved offer expires May 16th.

[Peace77]

I would do the balance transfer. You only have one credit card open at this time.

You can call them and find out what you credit limit would be before you finalize your offer acceptance.

Applying for a refinance in 3 months should be ok.

[shooter47]

I received this same offer from chase once a week for almost 5 straight months. They offered $50 dollar cash back bonus and then after about a month raised it to $100. I never planned on getting this card until after 4 months I got one that offered a $150 dollar cash back bonus. Even after I had recieved my card I still got these offers in the mail for another month before they stopped. I would probably wait it out and you might still get this offer after you refinance your car loan.

[Deleted]

Mar 29, 2011 9:45:49 GMT -5 Peace77 said:

I would do the balance transfer. You only have one credit card open at this time.

You can call them and find out what you credit limit would be before you finalize your offer acceptance.

Applying for a refinance in 3 months should be ok.

I actually also have a Discover Open Road card that I use for gas and groceries, but I always make payments online right after I use it. I don't carry a balance, I only use that card for the cashback bonus rewards. Got $20 back during my birthday month! But that's besides the point...

[qofcc]

Ok, but my credit union offers refinancing specials in July, which I'm waiting until then to refinance. This 0%APR offer expires in April 2012, so if I wait until mid-summer to do it, it wouldn't even be worth it for me. I'd only get 7 or 8 months out of it instead of a full year. Plus, it says my pre-approved offer expires May 16th.

I bet you'll get another offer every month with a 12 month balance transfer. I don't know how good your credit score is, but if you're worried that you're on the edge for the car refinance, I wouldn't want to mess it up to lower the interest rate for 3 months on a credit card.

[april47]

I had a Chase card for years and recently paid off a large balance. I was never terribly happy with them. I was paying extra each month and was never late. Several months ago I evidently paid them too early and it showed as twice one month. It was also double my minimum. I do bill pay on my bank account(not Chase) and did not realize that it also showed the following month as non payment. When I called and spoke to them about one of the months payment was for the other month the person was very rude. Two weeks later I got a letter that they were increasing my rate to 24.9% and decreasing my limit because of recent untimely payment. When I sold my house I paid them off and I wouldn't have a card with them if they offered me 0% because I don't trust them.

[2kids10horses]

I Would do the balance transfer. I think you'll be ok for the car refi in 3 months.

When you pay off the balance transfer, DON'T close the account!

That actually hurts your credit! Keep the card open. Use it twice a year for a nominal amount. This keeps your account active, and paid on time.

A large portion of the determination of your credit score is the percentage of your available credit you are actually using. So, lets say you have one card, $5000 line, and $2500 balance. You are using 50% of your available credit. Lets say you open a new credit card with a $2500 line, and transfer $1000 from your original card to the new card. Now you have $7500 total available credit, with the same $2500 balance, spread over two accounts. Your credit score will go UP, because now you are using only 1/3 of your available credit!

From what I understand, about the optimum on this sort of thing is to have 3 cards, and use 30% or less of the available balance.

[Deleted]

Mar 30, 2011 5:00:14 GMT -5 @toughtimes said:

Also, consider this a question from a car-less New Yorker, not a slap, how long do cars run nowadays that people refinance them? I thought that was for mortgages?

I don't know if refinance is the exact word, but I currently have a 6 year loan with 6.49% on a 2008 civic. It had 27k miles on it when I bought it last may - as of this morning, I have 57k miles on it. I plan on driving it into the ground, but I just don't want to still owe on it when I do. I drive a little over 100 miles a day commuting to work. My credit union offers specials every summer offering as low as 2.99%. I'd like to try to get that instead. I do pay more than what's owed monthly, but the lower interest rate would help. My credit wasn't the best when I got the loan last year.

And, I've given it some thought, and tossed the Chase offer. I played the "bounce the debt around" game in my younger years, I don't want to do it anymore. I'm just going to keep busting my hump to pay it off with the rates I've got now. My goal is to be debt free by the time i'm 30 - at this point, I think I'm gonna make it!