Huevosman

Are you able to transfer a cash advance made on one credit card using 0 percent balance transfer offer on a different credit card?

I have a young friend that has gotten himself into a little bit of trouble not knowing the ramifications of cash advances.

roki

Generally, yes. If it's two cards from the same bank, he probably has to do it via a checking account. Even if it's from seperate banks, it may not be a bad idea. Example:

He cash advanced $1500 on his card at 2x.xx% interest rate. That balance is now up to $1700. He has a new card offering 0% BT and 3% BT fee. Request a BT check from the new card in the amount of $1700 ($54 BT fee), and make it payable to his name. Deposit the check into a checking account, and then pay off the $1700 card from the checking account. A couple extra steps, but it allows you to BT between two cards from the same institution.

Stubtify

Sometimes the fine print says that those checks are no good if made out to either "Cash" or yourself.

But the basics are there, another card that allows a BT will just pay off the amount and move it over to another card.

roki

Interesting. I only have experience with Citi BTs, but I've seen it done countless times. Haven't ever actually read the fine print through.

Stubtify

I actually misspoke. The checks are still good, but the fine print will say that they count as Cash Advances, not BT if made out to yourself or CASH. Not always the case, but look just to be safe. Especially if trying to wipe out a Cash Advance!

sdsearch

First, please try to think of better titles in the future. The first words of a sentence don't really signify what the thread is about, and you tend to get fewer responses to poorly named threads (because so many people just ignore them). In this case, I would have suggested "transfer cash advances between cards?" or something like that.

Anyhow, if doing it the striaghtforward route (straight from one card to anothe card, not going through your checking account as described in other posts above), it has to be a card from a completely different bank.

Ie, you can't do a balance transfer from one card issued by Citi to another card issued by Citi, or from one card issued by Chase to another card issued by Chase.

But you can do a balance transfer from one card issued by Citi to another card issued by Chase, or vice versa.

And keep in mind that 0% balance transfers are generally not "free". There's typically a one-time fee (3% to 5% of the amount transfered, often with a flat minimum), independent of the 0% (or whatever low) interest rate. So while you can theoretically extend a 0% transfer quite a while by transferring back and forth between at least two cards from two different banks, the more often you do it the more you're charged in these fees. So if the fee is 3%, and the 0% only last one year, then you've essentially been charged 3% for a year, not 0% for a year. That's still great, compared to "normal" credit card interest charges, but it does mean that 0% transfer money is usually not totally free any more (and should be used with that in mind).

For this reason, a 1.9% interest rate balance transfer that lasts two years and comes with a 3% transfer fee may actually be a better value than 0% interest rate balance transfer that only lasts one year and comes with a 5% transfer fee, if you're going to need to use the latter twice, because then you'll actually be charge more in fees alone than you would be with one fee + interest for two years.

Finally, keep in mind that any payment problems (not paying enough or skipping a payment) will immediately cancel the 0% (or low) interest rate, and jump you into at least the normal interest rate for that credit card, if not a penalty rate. So make sure you can keep up with the payments and the payment schedule with no possible issues if you use a transfer.

Ragnarok

Chase Slate is currently offering a NO FEE Balance Transfer for 15 months

Go for it while it last.

But remind him not to add any more balance just because he now has a new BT offer.