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Pastimes : Credit Card Deals -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bob wallace who wrote (169)	4/4/2001 1:10:31 PM
From: accountclosed	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 253

it depends on the issuer. many of these folks give you "transfer checks" and you can put the money anywhere you want to. one of the things i used to do was to have a large account at first union. i'm not sure what the product was called, but there were several accounts like it. the rate wasn't stellar, but you could draw on it for no charge at all. the rate might have been prime plus two or something like that. banks have had such products that in fact are unsecured lines of credit that "come with" credit cards or vice versa they promote them as credit card accounts that have convenience checks. they are often "premier" or "select" products. central fidelity bank also had such a credit card product. i'm not sure if wachovia continued the product when they bought out central fidelity. anyway, the way i would regard such a product is as a "gateway" to the system. so, for example, mbna offers transfer checks. as people point out there are increasingly fees with such checks. mbna's has been 30 max in my experience. so let's say you get a card with a rate you like. like a discover card 1.9%. but discover doesn't allow the deposit into the bank account without a 3% no limit charge. but they will transfer to another card no problem. so you create a balance with the mbna card for 30.00 and clean it off with the discover card. i tried to give a history as i accumulated 10 cards in the last few months. let me look in my wallet and try to remember the pathways to each: 1. discover --> first time when they called me they put money in checking. i cleared it off a couple times and they wouldn't but i used mbna gateway. 2. security first --> transfer checks (can be written to anywhere.) no fee. 3. mbna --> transfer checks (can be written to anywhere.) 30.00 max fee 4. amex --> i didn't get the right deal here due to web screw up. 5. juniper --> 0.0% transfer at time of application. i put it onto discover card. then reused mbna gateway. no fees at the juniper level although it ran me into 30.00 at mbna 6. fleet --> check no fee, i think 7. gm --> check no fee 8. chase --> check no fee 9. wingspan --> transfer minimal fee at time of application. 10. chase shell mastercard --> always keep for rebate feature.

To: bob wallace who wrote (169)	4/4/2001 1:54:08 PM
From: accountclosed	Respond to of 253

Bob, I would also clarify that the reason I would no longer have a card like the First Union card is the too much credit issue. I have had to flush all the excess cards many times, mostly because if I am not using them, I just don't want them. But it had the side benefit that the issuers come right back after you and offer you another six months often. It has all been serendipity. Learn as you go. I think I told the story of my first one which was Signet Bank (which spun off its credit card operation to become Capital One). They used to send the transfer forms which were things you filled out and mailed in. It had a business reply stamp so no postage and no fees for the transfer. The statement came and had no interest charged and said "to avoid interest charges pay by xx/xx/xx". And in the envelope, there was another transfer form. So I paid it off and re-transfered. A cottage industry of transfering was born <g> And they let me keep it up for years. === Another interesting side effect of these things is that I often get emails and mailings for secured credit cards, or debt work out things, or home equity loans. Which of course I have no use for. It's all kind of ironic. The credit card companies will give me a humongous card because, presumably, they think my credit is good. They sell my name to the next guy who now thinks my credit must be bad. <g>