So When i first got my Citibank Platinum select, i had to take out a $500 cash advance, to finish purchasing a car (in cash). When you make payments to citibank, always the cash goes towards the lowest interest point right? So i have 12% purchase balance of about $2000 and $500 @ 19% on my statement. I went back to see what I could do about that, but noticed, the next month the Cash advance amount was $0 and the Purchase amount was offset. I was like, hmm. thats odd. Oh yeah, I called the big "R" and asked for a reduction in my APR!! Not saying this will work every time, but it appears, when they reduced my APR, they combined my CASH Advance balance and my Purchase balance together.. I just looked back on my statements, and my payments, and theres no way (due to balances on purchases) my payments would have ever dented my Cash Advance balance.. Any comments?
When my apr was lowered, it did not change the cash owed amount. Citi does apply some % of your monthly payment (For me about 10% of monthly payment)to the cash balance,effectively lowering the amount being charged the higher apr each month. with Citi,and unlike Chase, you can direct payments to be applied only to the cash portion of the balance by sending a payment to; Citicards Exception Payment Processing PO Box 8011 South Hackensack,NJ 07606-8001 A few things to remember... 1) You must put your acct# on check. 2) This payment will not count toward your minimum monthly payment,so you still must make your regular payment to citi. 3) On top of your signature you MUST put P=00 (ie, payment amount you want directed towards regular monthly payment,in this case zero) C=(amount of payment you want directed towards lowering cash advance balance,as an example,lets say $250.00. So in this case P=0 and C=$250.00 VJ
If you plan things right, you can always turn every Cash Advance APR into a Balance Transfer APR. Just make sure to use cards (or specific offers) that carry no BT fee. Some of the better offers for a PERMANENT BT APR (not an intro rate): Amex Optima Platinum: 8.9% (no fee) Capital One Platinum: 9.9% (no fee) If you use an issuer's blank BT check, you can also try VJ's method, and only pay the CA part of the balance. Saar
I Believe if you change product line from AA to Plat select your balances get pushed over into purchases as well.
What you do with the funds should not have anything to do with the rate you pay. The deal is a gimmic!
Yeah cash advances are generally bad, but theres times when they are a must to finance objects that cannot be purchased otherwise. Thanks for the tips, thats invaluable information...
