No Fee Balance Transfer Update

No Balance Transfer Fee

In our last post at this blog, we confirmed that the Bank of America (BofA) Pet Rewards Visa® card was still offering 0% intro APR on transferred balances, with no balance transfer fee. Today's news isn't good: this card was discontinued yesterday. I felt a need to confirm this somber news because sometimes a bank will discontinue a credit product from affiliate sites like www.BalanceTransfer.cc, but the product can still be found on the bank's website. So I searched for this card using my favorite search engine and found that it was still listed on the BofA website. For clarification, I decided to have another online conversation with a BofA representative. The conversation ended a few minutes ago; here's how that conversation went:

Current Transcript of the Chat Session. Thank you for choosing Bank of America. An operator will be with you shortly. You are now chatting with Amanda.

Amanda: Hello, thank you for joining Bank of America online chat. I am here to assist you in selecting new accounts that fit your needs. How can I assist you today?

you: Hello

you: I want to know if the Bank of America PetRewards® Visa® card is still available

Amanda: No I am sorry it is not.

Amanda: It was discontinued yesterday.

you: OK, so Bank of America hasn't had a chance to remove all pages related to this card yet, is that right?

you: I was able to find this card with a Google search

Amanda: That's not our site so they may still have it (?)

Amanda: However if you try to get to the application you will get an error.

you: Ok, well thanks for your time

Amanda: You’re very welcome.

Amanda: Are you looking for a balance transfer card?

you: yes

Amanda: How much are you looking to transfer?

you: I'm looking for 0% intro APR on introductory balance transfers, with no balance transfer fee

you: I'm looking to transfer about $4,000

Amanda: Well we don't have a card with no fee but we do have cards with 0% APR for 15 months on balance transfers and then we give you $25.00 back for doing the transfer. So once you get the credit back the fee would only be like $95.00

you: are you referring to the Bank of America Cash Rewards card?

Amanda: That is one of them

you: OK, so I'd like to know the other cards with similar terms and benefits

Amanda: Please click here for information regarding our Visa Signature with WorldPoints.

Amanda: Please click here for information regarding our WorldPoints Platinum Plus MasterCard.

Amanda: Are you still with me? Please respond so I can leave this chat window open to answer any application questions you may have.

you: I have all the information I need. Thanks and have a great day.

Amanda: You’re very welcome.

Right now, the best 0% credit card in the American market is the Discover More Card, which currently offers 0% intro APR on introductory balance transfers for 12 months, with a transfer fee of 3%. Unfortunately, there is no longer a cap on the transfer fee with Discover More, so if, for example, you want to transfer $3,500 or more, the transfer fee would be at least $105.

But you do have options, like the Bank of America Visa® Signature® WorldPoints Rewards credit card, which now offers 0% intro APR on introductory balance transfers for 15 months, with a balance transfer fee of 3%. This is one of the cards the BofA representative recommended during our online conversation (which I posted above.) With this card, there is the added benefit of a $25 statement credit that you can use to reduce the balance transfer fee. So if you were to transfer $4,000 to this card, the real transfer fee would be:

• $4,000.00 X 0.03 (transaction fee) = $120.00
• $120.00 - $25 (statement credit) = $95.00

Am I sure that a balance transfer would qualify for the statement credit? Yes, I am, because I just checked the terms & conditions for this card. Here's a clip:

"...To qualify for this offer, your new account must be used to make any purchase, balance transfer or cash advance transaction totaling $25 excluding any transaction fees, if applicable within 45 days of the account open date. Limit one (1) statement credit per new account...."

We also have confirmation of this from the BofA representative (see transcript above.)

Ok, so I'm guessing that your next question is, "Why would you recommend the Discover More card before recommending the BofA Visa Signature with WorldPoints Rewards card? Seems that the BofA card offers more value with the 15 month holiday from paying interest on transferred balances."

The answer: because with the BofA cards, the balance transfer fee is subject to finance charges. Here is a clip from the term & conditions associated with the BofA Visa Signature with WorldPoints Rewards card:

"...We include Transaction Fees when computing finance charges. Incurring Transaction Fees results in an APR exceeding 0% for the billing statement on which those fees appear. The Daily Periodic Rate (DPR) will remain 0% as disclosed..."

We also like the Discover More card because its cash back rewards package is the most generous in the American consumer credit card market.

Where Did The "No Fee Balance Transfer"
Pulaski Bank Credit Cards Go?

A little FYI to end this blog entry: The two "no fee balance transfer" cards from Pulaski bank are still available here. The reason we removed them from the "No Fee Balance Transfer" page was because these cards are very difficult to get. Approvals are few and far between. However, if you feel that your credit profile is stellar -- and I mean super perfect -- then by all means give one of these cards a try.

The reason these two Pulaski Bank cards are so hard to get?

• 0% intro APR on introductory balance transfers for 6 months
• No balance transfer fee
• For the regular Pulaski Bank MasterCard® or VISA® Card, the APR on purchases and cash advances is 6.50%. For the Pulaski Bank Visa Gold Card, the APR on purchases and cash advances is 8.00% (you will have a hard time finding credit cards on offer from other American banks with APR's that low, especially for cash advances!)

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