Earning interest on 0% CC cash advance checks

[chinaco]

When I see this sort of thing (and it is not derided as a joke), it leaves a lingering question in my mind as to who is sharing info on the board.

I have not looked into it closely (tried to work the numbers). I would not be suprised that one can borrow the money and make a spread. But it comes at a high risk. To make enough money to make it worthwhile, you will need to put a large amount of money in play. Anytime one borrows money to make money, they have a large risk. It may seem like the CD is a riskless investment, but the overall approach has alot of risk.

My sober advice: If you are on this board looking for sound investment advice, this thread is one to avoid. This is a suckers bet. You might be able to navigate it technically. But a very small mistake can wipe out any earning and then some. Not to mention that your losses could mount quickly if you did experience the 24%+ interest rate if you make a mistake. If this were such a fantastic way to make money via an investment... don't you think eveyone would be doing it!

I do not want to sound too harsh... but whoever is offering this as sage advice is leading some lesser savvy people down the wrong road! Keep the crackpot schemes to yourself!

 

[brewer12345]

I do not want to sound too harsh... but whoever is offering this as sage advice is leading some lesser savvy people down the wrong road! Keep the crackpot schemes to yourself!

You mean like investing in the stock market?

Butt out, chinaco.

 

[fluffy]

I've had good success with Chase Sony Visa card -- NEVER get turned down for it, always get 0% for 12 months ($75 capped BT fee), get $100 bonus after first purchase (pay the balance before doing BT) and had above average credit lines. Best credit lines for me came from Citi Business PremierPass (1yr annual fee waived, 0% for 12 months, no BT fee). Overall, Citi and Chase are the best for the BT game from my experience. BoA, Discover, and especially HSBC have been stingy with credit lines. Having said that, credit lines approved can vary quite a bit from person to person and from card to card for a given issuer.

As far as the crackpot scheme comment... if the person is responsible, organized, and has done his/her homework on how the process works, this is about as close to free AND risk-free money as it gets. And the amounts earned can be significant.

If you are not responsible enough to park all the 0% money in a safe investment (I would only do FDIC-insured high-yield savings or maybe CDs) or not organized/knowledgeable enough to keep track of required payments, then I agree, you should stay away from this.

 

[maddythebeagle]

Check your sunday paper...citibank usually has some no fee bt offer with 10k thank you points....

Also, like the citi biz cards and there are offers for 15k thank you points....

 

[Hamlet]

Well, I have done this on a very small scale, and it's pretty much a no-brainer. When I bought my house, I used an 80/15/5 loan (the 15% loan was a HELOC). I got one of these 0%, no balance transfer offers, so I transferred the last $12000 or so of my HELOC to the 0% card. If I screw up, I'll pay a late fee and one month's interest at a very high rate until I can just put it back on the HELOC. No big deal.

I wouldn't recommend doing this with a dozen cards and 100k, but one card for 10k is still worth doing. Figure you can make $500 with 10k in safe investments over a year. I think that is worth doing.

Note-- I don't get many of the no balance transfer offers anymore, so the absolutely free money has gotten harder to come by.

When I see this sort of thing (and it is not derided as a joke), it leaves a lingering question in my mind as to who is sharing info on the board.

I have not looked into it closely (tried to work the numbers). I would not be suprised that one can borrow the money and make a spread. But it comes at a high risk. To make enough money to make it worthwhile, you will need to put a large amount of money in play. Anytime one borrows money to make money, they have a large risk. It may seem like the CD is a riskless investment, but the overall approach has alot of risk.

My sober advice: If you are on this board looking for sound investment advice, this thread is one to avoid. This is a suckers bet. You might be able to navigate it technically. But a very small mistake can wipe out any earning and then some. Not to mention that your losses could mount quickly if you did experience the 24%+ interest rate if you make a mistake. If this were such a fantastic way to make money via an investment... don't you think eveyone would be doing it!

I do not want to sound too harsh... but whoever is offering this as sage advice is leading some lesser savvy people down the wrong road! Keep the crackpot schemes to yourself!

 

[maddythebeagle]

Please stay on topic and dont feed that [moderator edit] troll....this only takes a little discipline and half a brain...even JG could do it

 

[SecondCor521]

1) Anybody doing BT with Chase cards, and if so, what kind of max credit limits to they typically issue to customers with excellent credit?

I am doing three different BT's with Chase right now (one business, two personal). Their max CL's probably depend on your income as well as your credit, but it wasn't that hard for me to get several in the $30K range through good credit, reasonably high income, an AOR and reallocation.

2Cor521

 

[Peaceful_Warrior]

How has this affected your credit rating, as a whole? I noticed that merely getting the card dropped my FICO by 20 points... so I'm guessing I'll take another 80-100 hit when the new balance registers.

But that's just one card....

I am doing three different BT's with Chase right now (one business, two personal). Their max CL's probably depend on your income as well as your credit, but it wasn't that hard for me to get several in the $30K range through good credit, reasonably high income, an AOR and reallocation.

2Cor521

 

[trixs]

Im curious how you guys are getting the balance transfers from the credit cards to the mm fund. Ive been researching this some and it seems you cant directly credit it to a debit card. Are you using a heloc to fund the mm then bt to the heloc?

 

[Peaceful_Warrior]

Citi gives the option to write a check out in my name (basically no different than a cash advance).

Im curious how you guys are getting the balance transfers from the credit cards to the mm fund. Ive been researching this some and it seems you cant directly credit it to a debit card. Are you using a heloc to fund the mm then bt to the heloc?

 

[SecondCor521]

How has this affected your credit rating, as a whole? I noticed that merely getting the card dropped my FICO by 20 points... so I'm guessing I'll take another 80-100 hit when the new balance registers.

But that's just one card....

I dunno exactly. I'm sure it's dropped a bunch. I am an unusual stoozer in that I don't pay for the opportunity to check my credit score across all three bureaus daily. I just don't see the point. I have tried to arrange my finances to where I hopefully will not need anyone to extend me credit any more. I do check my Equifax credit report at least once a week to make sure nothing untoward has happened identity-theft-wise.

I believe the people on Fatwallet who say one's score will recover and in fact likely be higher at the end of an AOR. In a year or so, I will have made 12 * 6 = 72 additional on-time payments, my credit lines will all be a year older, and I will have paid off over $90,000 in credit card "debt" (the 0% money I borrowed and have stuck in an Amtrust Direct account earning 5% plus). My credit history will be a year older. And I'll have 15 more credit lines than I did before.

I do think that one's existing credit history before starting an AOR will drive how many points one loses temporarily. If you have one credit card that is 2 years old with a CL of $3,000, an AOR will make your score drop more than if you have a longer credit history with more cards and higher limits. I did go through a phase for about two or three years before my AOR where I just applied for cards and increased my credit limits for no real good reason...just a hobby sort of. So I had a pretty good history to begin with.

I do plan to do a second AOR either some time this fall or early next spring, so I will be interested to see what happens then. I expect that the major issuers have already extended me all the credit they're going to, but there are other players out there as well. Also, it is not that hard to get Citi or Chase to issue you a card with a low $500 limit on it. You can then reallocate from another card that has, say, $30K on it. Presto, you're off and running again.

2Cor521

 

[thefed]

Ive said it before... I am milking two awesome deals right now.

CITIBANK and DISCOVER... 0% for life...yes, life....until the balance is paid in full. Make 2 purchases per month (automated for me) and you are good to go



So....I'm making about 1500/yr (declining monthly)from these alone

 

[thefed]

F1k7 is the code online to use for citi 0% for life.