Balance Transfer Credit Cards Question

[Bryan L.]

I've recently been using some of those "0% Balance Transfer" cards to help fund my deals. They have a 0% introductory rate for 12 months or so, and you pay 3 points up front. That's incredible compared to hard-money. Anyway, I have one of my rehabs finished and it's under contract to sell and will be closing soon. I will use the proceeds to pay off the cards before the introductory period ends (which is soon). Here's my question. When the introductory period ends, and if I have no balance on the card, can I just cancel the card and then apply for the same card again to get a new introductory period? Has anyone done this?

[John Chapman]

I did this for years and it's a great way to fund acquisitions and rehabs.

If you cancel after the intro period, I'm pretty sure they won't let you reapply right away, but there's really no need to as there are so many offers out there. Keep the card open as you will almost certainly get another offer at some point.

The trick is to get enough of the cards open both in you and your spouse's name. Once there's a certain number you will always have a certain number of offers outstanding if you want to roll one over. It's really hard to predict when a card is going to give you offers, but I've noticed over the years that the quality and quantity of the offers diminishes as you leverage up more and more.

I always make it a point once a year to call my cc companies and ask for a credit line increase even if it's a just a few grand. Over the years it really boosts your access to credit and, ironically, your credit score as your revolving line % goes down.

The biggest thing to do is always make sure you never miss a payment. I use autopay but even then I had Citi screw me once. I had set it up for autopay, but they did not have it kick in. Their fault and they admitted it. They let me keep the rate but cut my line. It was really scummy. The lesson I learned is keeping making those payments until you see an autopay actually hit. Yes, you might make two payments in one month, but it's better than missing a payment, even if its their fault.