"what is meant by credit card balance transfer"?

Question

can anyone explain to me what does it mean credit card balance transfer and how it can be done within different credit cards..

Answer 1

It means to transfer everything you owe on one credit card to another credit card.

Usually the rates for this are low because it amounts to one credit card company trying to take business from another credit card company. It usually applies when you get a new credit card and the new credit card company wants you to pay off your other credit cards by charging it all onto the new card.

The benefit for you is you can often lower your interest rate that way.

Answer 2

You take the outstanding balance from... let's say Visa, and transfer it to your MasterCard.  Meaning you pay off your Visa with your MasterCard because the monthly interest charges on your MasterCard are lass than your VISA.

Answer 3

It means that you transfer the balance(total amount of money you've used on your credit card) to a new credit card. Sometimes card companys will offer specials like 0% interest for one year on balance transfers-meaning that you dont have to pay interest on the amount you've spent. Or if a different card is offering you a lower interest rate on a balance transfer, you can transfer the balance on one card to the new one and pay less interest on that balance.

Answer 4

Well, you need to call the company from which your transferring from and too.  They will explain.  It's fairly simple.  Good Luck though! : )

Answer 5

The amount of debt on credit card A gets transferred over to credit card B. This happens when credit card A's limit is exceeded and credit card B's limit is higher, or when credit card A is lost or stolen and you need to close the account for whatever reason, or if you just don't want that card anymore. It's not good for your credit score though.

Answer 6

It means transferring the balance of one credit card over to another, usually because the latter card has a lower APR.  Some credit cards offer a deal if you transfer balances right when you get the card.  It's a good way to lower your interest rates and payments.

Answer 7

Almost every MasterCard, VIsa and Discover offer balance transfers.  There are usually two ways of doing the transfer. 1) Call their Customer Service line and tell them you want to do a balance transfer. Have your balance and credit card numbers handy.  2) Sometimes they send you checks which you can use to make a payment on another card.  Fill out the check like you normally would fill out a check and use it to pay off the card with the balance.

Be advised that most cards charge a 3% balance transfer fee, so you should make sure the interest rates are sufficiently lower on the card you are transferring the balance to.

Answer 8

Say you have a Visa with a $5000 credit limit and a balance of $3000 that you are paying 16% interest on.

But then you get approved for a Mastercard with a  $4000 limit and an offer for 0% interest balance transfer for 12 months.

If you transfer your balance to the Mastercard, they pay off your Visa then charge you the $3000 on their card.  They will probably charge a fee to do that, but it will be much less than the interest you'd pay if you left it.

Suppose you stop using your card and can pay off $250/month

With the Visa your balance would go up by hundreds of dollars a month from the interest and by the end of the 5th month you will have gone over your limit, incurring $39 fees and decreased credit scores.

With the Mastercard it would take you 12 months to pay off the balance (plus whatever the fee is).  If you could use both cards after that and pay off the balance EVERY month, your credit scores will go up.

Revolving balance=BAD CREDIT!!!

Answer 9

you're essentially transferring the balance from one credit card(s) to another. it's a method of bill consolidation.  

Answer 10

it means you take the balance you owe on one credit card and put it on another likehere's an example if i owed visa 1000 but had a credit limit of 3000 on master card i could put the 1000 on mastercard and id have a zero balance on visa but id still owe 1000 to the master card  

Answer 11

Only thing that I'd like to add to the other answers is couple of things I learnt the hard way:

1. First off, I didn't realize that if you do not pay off the amount in whole at the end of the designated period, they will charge interest on the entire amount and NOT on the amount that is outstanding at that point in time.

2. This is more of a psychological thing, but once you see that there is a zero balance on one of your cards, the temptation to use it becomes very high and it gets difficult not to give in. (or maybe it's just me)

That said, you will get all the advantages that others have mentioned.  

Answer 12

a credit card balance transfer means that you can transfer one balance on a credit card to another... you can transfer all your funds or some..you have to contact the credit card company you want to make the transfer too let thenm know you want to to a balance transfer of x amount of dollars and tehy will ask you what credit card you want to make the transfer from and take it from there... you have to give them your other credit card information so that they can transfer the funds... be weary of the djfferent charges that may occur for the transfer transaction..look that information up before you go and do this.. i have done several transfers...its easy