Immediate credit card care service
Credit Card Search
Enter card name:
Help Us Improve!

We rely on the feedback from our customers like you in order to improve our site.

Decided not to apply?
Can't find the right card?
Have a suggestion?
FREE SERVICES
Credit Cards Help Center

Tell a friend about Credit Cards

Credit Cards News

Credit Cards eZine

Credit Education

Special Credit Card Offer

Capital One® See If You´re Pre-Qualified

Credit Card Applications » Credit Card Questions » Other Questions » Does a balance transfer hurt my credit score?

Does a balance transfer hurt my credit score?

Discover® More Card
Discover® Card
Discover® More Card

0% Intro APR for 15 Months.

5% Cashback Bonus.

Visa® Platinum from Credit One Bank

Apply for a Credit Card Today!

An Excellent Credit Card for Rebuilding Credit Scores.

Date:
August 15, 2008, 10:32 am
Does a balance transfer hurt my credit score?
Answer:

It may and it may not hurt your credit score, it depends on the way you do the balance transfer. If you are just transferring the debt from one card to another, without closing the previous account, it won't hurt. Your credit score depends on the credit utilization ratio. If you do cancel the old account your credit available will decrease and the debt will remain the same. It makes credit utilization grow and brings your credit score down. Also, to keep the credit utilization low, apply for a balance transfer card with a reasonable limit. If, say, you transfer $5,000 onto a $6,000 card, it'll hurt your credit.

In fact, a wisely made balance transfer improves your score rather than otherwise. If you have a good or excellent credit at the moment, you can get some of the most attractive 0% APR balance transfer credit cards.

Extremely popular credit cards with balance transfers are More Card - Clear from Discover Card Company and Platinum Visa® of Chase Bank. Both offer 0% intro APRs for 12 months, low APRs on purchases and no annual fees. These cards require good-to-excellent credit rating to be approved for.

If your score is less than good because you're only building credit history, you also can find a card with a balance transfer option, only its terms are generally not as beneficial as on good cards. A good variant in this case would be Capital One Platinum, a card for average credit history.

If you're looking to make a balance transfer, these credit cards might be a good deal. Compare their rates and fees and apply online.

Credit Card Applications All content. Copyright © 1999-2012.
Credit-Land.com, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Find Card Affiliates Contact Us About Us Terms Privacy RSS feed Site Map