5 Easy Steps to Fulfill a Balance Transfer

Once you decide to apply for a balance transfer credit card in order to consolidate all your debts, get lower interest rates or earn more rewards, you most likely begin to wonder how to accomplish the whole balance transfer process and benefit from it. Let’s start with the basics.

How Balance Transfers Work

Balance transfer means that debt from your old credit accounts will be transferred to a new one. So, there will be no carrying debt on those accounts anymore. The main thing is to find out what amount the new issuer allows you to transfer, as you can’t transfer more debt than your new card has in available credit.

Another significant thing is to choose a proper balance transfer card. To make approximate calculations and understand which card is more profitable for you, use our Balance transfer savings calculator. And to find out what aspects you should pay attention to in the first place, read our guide to choosing the right balance transfer credit card.

How to Carry Out a Balance Transfer

1. Apply for a new balance transfer credit card

As soon as you’ve investigated all options thoroughly, read all fine prints, and finally made up your mind which balance transfer card is perfect for you, it’s time to apply.

2. Indicate the amount to transfer

The first way is to fill out a form of balance transfer request while applying for a new card online. The main disadvantage of it is that you can’t yet know what credit limit you will be approved for and, therefore, the amount available for transfer. So, to avoid declines, it’s better to request a balance transfer only when you are approved. You can easily do it by contacting the issuer by phone.

3. Provide your old cards account numbers

Apart from the preferable transferring amount, your new issuer will need to know your old accounts you want to make the transfer from. After that, the procedure will be launched.

4. Wait and make payments on your old cards

The process of balance transfer typically takes up to a couple of weeks after your new account is opened. Don’t relax until you get a confirmation that the transfer has successfully gone through. No one has canceled payments on old accounts yet since the balance is still there. Be very careful with this so that not to get into debt even deeper.

5. Use your new card

The next step after the completion of your balance transfer is the appearance of this balance on the new card. Now you can feel free to start using the new card and pay off your debt on more favorable terms.

What’s Up with Your Old Cards

If you were allowed to transfer all your entire balance, the balances on the old cards will be erased. However, it is important to understand that if this is not the case, you still need to control payments on the remaining cards. Anyway, balance transfer credit card issuers don’t require you to close your other cards once you get approved, and even “empty” accounts will be active until you yourself cancel them. This means you will have to continue to pay fees if there are any.

Bottom Line

Transferring a credit card balance is a great tool to help you get rid of hateful debt quicker and win lower APRs and fees without hurting your credit score. And it is nice that it is not so difficult to make it work. Simply follow the steps above to bear the fruits.