Three more in the mail today. “3.99% 'til 2000” “9.99% fixed” etc. I have transferred balances before to lower rates and I understand why the offers are so frequent these days. What I don’t understand is why some banks offer a different rate for purchases and balance transfers. For example one today offered 9.9% for purchases and a “special rate” for balance transfers based on my current rates. Which to me means if I’m paying 12.99% now they’ll give me 12.95%. Why the difference? I mean if charge $5000 in purchases they are happy with 9.99% but if I use the $5000 toward paying off another card they want to charge me more. I’ve seen this in about 2/3 of the offers. Any ideas?
Yes. With a balance transfer they aren’t getting the percentage that they charge the merchant for the use of the card.
-Melin
Thanks, Melin. I can’t believe I couldn’t figure that out for myself.