Is ther any way to request a balance transfer that doesn't automatically transfer the lowest APR balance first? I have a Chase card that got bumped to 23.74% for high use to limit ratio that has a balance of 11k. The balance was 24k with a limit of 33k. I want to transfer some of the balance to another card at 6.99%. I also have another card at 11.49% that I can move money to. The plan is then to shuffle the money back to the Chase card to take advantage of a 3.99% for life offer. But as I understand it, any future transfers from the card will move the money at 3.99% first, correct?
It generally does move the lowest rate balance first, since a balance transfer from an account is a payment as far as that bank is concerned, and they generally apply payments to the lowest rate balance first. Transfer it all off, wait for the next statement and transfer the tail interest, then do the balance transfer to take advantage of the fixed rate til paid. Watch out for transfer fees. If APR is 4%, but a 3% BT fee, it's not as good as it seems. But if the fee is capped at, say, $50, and $50 only increases your effective APR by 0.5%, it might still be worth it. Run the numbers. I usually figure the first year rate, including fees, as an estimate, and decide from that, since I might BT later anyway, or the payback rate makes the up front fee more expensive for a BT that is payed down faster. Different banks may appear to have the same terms, but some will require higher minimum payments than others. If there is a fee, you would then be buying less borrowing for that fee if the minimum payment is higher.
