# Credit Card Balance Transfers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2009, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092 "2009-07-24T06:21:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092/1 "2009-07-24T06:21:18Z")
Supposing I have 2 credit cards the balances on both are nil. Using card “A” I withdraw over a number of days a total of £1000. When I receive the statement I transfer the amount owing to card “B”., the balance on card “A” is therefore reduced to nil again and the provider of that card is happy. When I receive the statement from card “B” I transfer the balance back to “A”. The balance on card"B" is reduced to nil again, the provider is happy and card “A” is back to £1000 plus any balance transfer fee If I continue to do this every time I receive statements wouldn’t this mean that I’ll never have to pay back the £1000 or balance transfer fees incurred. Or am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092/2 "2009-07-24T06:30:51Z")
Well the BT fees would keep incurring every time… typically a BT fee is something like 3% of the total balance transferred or $50, whichever is greater (I pulled that off the top of my head but it’s roughly what I’ve seen). Assuming you don’t have a black card with no limit, eventually you are going to hit your credit limit and then you are fucked. There are ways of juggling a balance for a while with offers that not only let you transfer a balance but keep it at 0% interest for a year or so (and occasionally this can even be done without a BT fee, though that is more the exception than the rule), and I’ve done this several times. But eventually it’s going to catch up with you for the same reason. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092/3 "2009-07-24T06:49:38Z")
[QUOTE=Rigamarole;11372324 Assuming you don’t have a black card with no limit, eventually you are going to hit your credit limit and then you are fucked. .[/QUOTE] I knew there was summink wrong with my line of thinking:smack: ---
**Author:** ![bluezooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@bluezooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluezooky)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092/4 "2009-07-24T09:06:04Z")
I’m sure you’ll find the interest free period is on purchases only, any type of transaction that could be used the way you describe is a cash advance and begins to accue interest immediately. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAlecCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SmartAlecCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlecCat)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092/5 "2009-07-24T13:22:53Z")
> [@bluezooky](#): > > I’m sure you’ll find the interest free period is on purchases only, any type of transaction that could be used the way you describe is a cash advance and begins to accue interest immediately. A couple years back, before the credit market broke I used to play games with this. Get a 0% for a year balance transfer, either $0 fee, or sometimes capped at $50 or $75. Transfer it to the “Visa” linked to my credit union bank account. The credit union just dumped the cash into my account. I then put it into a CD earning %5 or 6, and just paid it off before the period ran out. At my peak I’ve had over $100K out. Much harder nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092/6 "2009-07-24T13:40:19Z")
Also, in the OP’s particular scenario, it’s likely that card issuer A (or B, or both) will notice what is going on sooner or later and start charging you interest. Presumably, they would also be allowed to block you transferring the balance as well, if they wanted to, and demand you pay up. This is rather speculative, but I’d be surprised if their terms & conditions did not cover such a situation. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092/7 "2009-07-24T14:01:09Z")
Yeah. I had a card that used to give balance transfers with low rates (5% or 6%) for the life of the balance. That was great. The same card no longer offers balance transfers, full stop, because they don’t have to. ---
**Author:** ![Baracus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092/8 "2009-07-24T14:04:08Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > Presumably, they would also be allowed to block you transferring the balance as well, if they wanted to, and demand you pay up. I don’t see why they would prevent you from transferring the balance out. The credit card that is receiving the transfer is effectively “paying up” for you. I could see one company eventually deciding that your snowballing balance is too much of a risk and refusing to accept a transfer in. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092/9 "2009-07-24T14:13:47Z")
I think it’s more likely that the card you’re transferring the baland TO, would not allow the transfer once they seen the balance go back a forth a few times. And… > [@chowder](#): > > …the provider of that card is happy. I had to laugh at this. The credit card companies WANT you to have a balance. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092/10 "2009-07-24T14:19:18Z")
As others have said, this would fall down for two reasons: (1) 0% balance transfers with no fee were never common and are now pretty much extinct. Each balance transfer will typically attract a fee of between 2.5% and 3.5% of the balance. (2) I don’t know of any credit cards that don’t charge a fee on cash withdrawals, or at the very least charge interest from the day of the transaction rather than the statement date. Often even transactions that are not really cash will still fall foul of the second of these - for example deposits to gambling firms. The theory, I presume, is that you could deposit money to the gambling account, then withdraw it straight to another card, thus bypassing the cash withdrawal fee. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092/11 "2009-07-24T14:53:18Z")
> [@bluezooky](#): > > I’m sure you’ll find the interest free period is on purchases only, any type of transaction that could be used the way you describe is a cash advance and begins to accue interest immediately. Maybe so but if I transferred everything on card “A” to card “B” and back again the following month (rinse/repeat) then I wouldn’t be paying any interest. Strangly enough I received in the mail today an offer from one of my CC companies offering me a balance transfer of 0.09% pa until December 2012 ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092/12 "2009-07-24T15:16:03Z")
You used to be able to do this, but the credit card companies are getting smart. In the early 90s, I actually had BoA cards with no balance transfer on the opening of a new account and no fees for a year. The hitch was the balance transfer fee usually was so high that it cancelled out any benefit of a no interest rate. BUT if the account was new, that transfer fee was waived. So you’d simply cancel the card after a year. Six months to a year later the cancelled credit card would say “Please come back,” and offer it to you again. The OP senerio still could be done for a limited amount of time. 5/3 Bank just gave me a $25,000 credit card with a no balance transfer/no fees for a year. If you’re careful, and I mean REALLY careful you can work credit cards, but usually something screws you up, and you can’t get away with it forever. I love Citibank 'cause they give me 25,000 free airline miles (a free trip) if I charge $500 in three months. Since I charge and pay off at the end of the month, it costs me nothing. Then after a year I cancel the card. Then six months later they ask me to “come back,” and offer me another 25,000 miles to re-sign. But Citibank is a killer with Interest it’s nearly 30% so if I were to mess up and not pay the card at the end of the month, it could easily be not worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092/13 "2009-07-24T17:34:40Z")
I’ve never, ever, heard of a credit card that didn’t require minimum monthly payments. In my experience, the minimum payment always exceeds any interest due on the account, which always includes any balance transfer fees for that month. But even if there’s no interest and no fees, there’s still a minimum payment. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092/14 "2009-07-24T18:03:45Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > I’ve never, ever, heard of a credit card that didn’t require minimum monthly payments. In my experience, the minimum payment always exceeds any interest due on the account, which always includes any balance transfer fees for that month. But even if there’s no interest and no fees, there’s still a minimum payment. Quite right, all cards carry a minimum monthly repayment. But if I was to transfer the whole of the balance on card “A” to card"B" then I wouldn’t have to make that payment as the balance of card “A” would be nil. ---
**Author:** ![bluezooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@bluezooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluezooky)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092/15 "2009-07-25T02:49:59Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > Maybe so but if I transferred everything on card “A” to card “B” and back again the following month (rinse/repeat) then I wouldn’t be paying any interest. > > Strangly enough I received in the mail today an offer from one of my CC companies offering me a balance transfer of 0.09% pa until December 2012 Sounds like a good deal unless there are some outrageous monthly fee involved, usually about six months is all you’ll get. ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-balance-transfers/504092/16 "2009-07-25T07:06:19Z")
> [@SmellMyWort](#): > > I had to laugh at this. The credit card companies WANT you to have a balance. Only if a) they’re making money by you carrying a balance (in the form of interest), or b) you’re repaying that balance.