Yes, potential new cardmembers can apply for a Discover it® Cash Back Card and take advantage of a balance transfer offer. This lets you move balances from your existing credit card accounts to a new Discover credit card account. If you’re already a Discover Cardmember, you can log in to your account online to see if you have a credit card balance transfer offer available to you to transfer outstanding debt with other companies to your Discover Card. A balance transfer is a method of debt consolidation where you combine existing credit card debt and other qualifying debts within one single credit card. This can happen at account opening using a balance transfer offer, or as a promotion from your current credit card issuer. You can review your balance transfer offer to learn how long it will take for your other debts to be moved to your new account, but the timing may depend on the status of your debt accounts or the ways that they are paid. Once you take a balance transfer offer, you have a set amount of time that the balance is subject to the intro promo APR. That amount of time is defined with the original balance transfer offer. Once that time is up, if you haven’t repaid the transferred amount, it is subject to the standard APR. If you accept a balance transfer offer, the credit card account will combine the other debts that you want to consolidate, up to the available credit line, and add them to the new account’s balance. You then pay the new account to repay the outstanding balance. This is especially helpful if you have high-interest debt that is more than you can pay in one billing cycle: by using a lower-interest intro rate balance transfer offer, you can pay down your debt over time without accruing as much interest. There are different ways that your outstanding debts may be consolidated within a new account. Some credit card issuers may allow you to deposit the money that you need into your checking account so that you may pay your creditors. In other cases, to take a balance transfer offer you must provide the account information where your other debts are held, and the balance transfer account will pay those creditors directly from your new account. In both cases, your new credit card account will have an outstanding balance equal to the amount that you transferred, any transfer fees, and any interest that you have accumulated per the intro APR. With a balance transfer offer, you likely will pay a low or 0% APR for an introductory period on your transferred balance when you adhere to the payment schedule. But when you originally transfer the balance, you may pay a balance transfer fee. This is a charge that equals a set percentage of the total transferred balance and adds it to your total balance. There may be an intro balance transfer fee for a limited period of time from when the initial balance is transferred which may be different than the standard balance transfer fee that would be applied to other offers. For example, if you have $1,000 of debt that you want to transfer to a balance transfer credit card, and the offer includes a 5% transfer fee, the total amount that you will need to repay on the new credit card is $1,050. A balance transfer can affect your credit score in a few ways. When you apply for a new credit card, that hard inquiry will show up on your credit report. Additionally, when you open a new account and add to the amount of available credit (or total credit line), this may lower your debt-to-credit ratio—as long as you don’t continue to add to the amount of debt that you owe. And if you manage your new debt consolidation credit card responsibly, make your payments on time, and pay off all of your outstanding debt, that can also have an impact on your credit score. Like so many financial decisions, only you can be sure if a balance transfer is right for you. Different credit card companies have different introductory interest rate offers and transfer fees on their balance transfers, so it’s up to you to do your research and determine if there’s a best credit card balance transfer offer for you. Get 0% APR† for 15 months on balance transfers and purchases. 3% Intro fee on balances transferred by April 10, 2024. Then 17.24% to 28.24% Standard Variable Purchase APR and up to 5% fee for future balance transfers will apply. Yes, a balance transfer credit card offer makes it possible for you to transfer balances from one credit card to another credit card. But it’s important to know that most credit card companies won’t allow you to transfer balances from one of their branded credit cards to another credit card in their own brand. Yes, Discover has a balance transfer fee. If you take a balance transfer offer with Discover, you not only get a low intro APR on transferred balances but you also have a new credit card account that you can use even after you’ve paid off your transferred balance. You can make a single new monthly payment, and you don’t have to pay off the entirety of the balance within a set period of time—but are expected to make at least your minimum monthly payments like you do with any credit card. A personal loan is a loan for a specific amount of money to be repaid in a specific period of time, with a repayment plan established at the outset. Your monthly payment plan is designed to be a consistent amount every month that, if you adhere to the payment schedule, means that your entire outstanding debt is repaid at the end of the loan term.
