Slate Card from Chase: 0% APR For 15 Months + NO Balance Transfer Fee!
New, improved offer! The New Slate® from Chase – No Balance Transfer is now available with 0% APR on both balance transfers and purchases for 15 months, and the best part: NO balance transfer fee! There are different flavors of this card, but you should see it mentioned right at the top of this specific offer link. You can literally borrow money for free and pay it back in 15 months with no interest (keeping in mind you’ll still need to satisfy the minimum payment each month until then). No annual fee.
This is a limited time offer, and very rare these days to find a no balance transfer fee 0% APR offer that is available to all (as opposed to being targeted only to specific customers). You can verify in the Pricing & Terms section of the application, down in the Fees box:
None on transfers made within 30 days of account opening. All other transfers: Either $5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
Make sure you initiate that balance transfer within the first 30 days.
Lower your interest on balances!
This is a great opportunity for those people with good to excellent credit but are still working hard to lower their debt payments with no fees at all, as now you can have all your money applied directly into cutting down your principal instead of having it go towards interest. That way, your balance owed will go down that much faster.
Chase Blueprint is a free feature on select cards that lets you break down your balances into things that you want to pay in full each month and bigger purchases that you wish to pay off over time.
Earn interest with the money?
It’s been a while since I did any sort of credit card arbitrage, but you can still get some pretty high rates with certain rewards checking accounts. For example, Consumer’s Credit Union has their Free Rewards Checking account paying 4.09% APY interest on balances up to $10,000 if you make 12 debit card purchases + one billpay per month. The rate is even guaranteed at least through June 30, 2012. You can join with a $5 one-time fee, even integrated into their online application:
All credit unions have a common bond and their members need to be associated with it in order to join the credit union. At Consumers Credit Union (CCU), our common bond is the Consumers Cooperative Association (CCA). You join CCA by paying a one-time fee of $5.00.
Another good option is U.S. Savings Bonds. Series I bonds bought right now will earn 3.06% for the first six months, and then an unknown rate based on ongoing inflation after that. Even with zero inflation, it will still earn more than any 1-year bank CD… and I really don’t see zero inflation.
If you wish to get cash from this balance transfer offer without it being classified as a “cash advance”, one idea is to ask for the balance transfer as a check or electronically transferred to your bank account. You may need to call them for this. Another option is to request money to be transferred to other non-Chase credit cards that you have, ideally already with a balance on them. This will create a negative balance, after which you request a refund check be sent to you. I know that Citibank had a feature on their site to request a credit balance refund, which only showed up when you have a negative balance.
New Slate® from Chase – No Balance Transfer application link
Find more in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 2/6/12, 3:14pm | Trackback
November 1st, 2011 at 6:07 am
I borrowed thousands of dollars and made hundreds in interest using this method back when CDs were paying 4% to 5%. But now except for the I-bond deal, I’m not sure it’s worth the hassle unless you just really enjoy this kind of stuff.
November 1st, 2011 at 9:47 am
Here I was just making a plan to wrap up the last of my outstanding balance transfers and you go tempting me with this!?!
November 1st, 2011 at 10:18 am
The article above states “Another good option is U.S. Savings Bonds. Series I bonds bought right now will earn 3.60% for the first six months, and then an unknown rate based on ongoing inflation after that.” With the 3.60% linked to the earlier article on Series I savings bonds. However, that article explains that the rate (beginning in November) will be 3.06% for the first 6 months, not 3.60%.
November 1st, 2011 at 10:43 am
Chase gets none of my business. Heavy-handed, impersonal, arrogant bank.
November 1st, 2011 at 5:08 pm
Consumer credit union has been noted to be bait and switch on Fatwallet.
I-bonds are a good bet, but you have to consider the minimum 12-month holding period. How will you get your money into treasury direct and out in time to pay back without owing interest on the 13th month? Combine that with the fact that you will be only earning interest for 9 months, you’re looking at a lot of hassle to get the timing right. If you have a stash of money and are just using the App-o-rama as a safety cushion while you tuck your “real money” into various safe, opportunistic vehicles, then that is another story.
November 1st, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Hey everyone, I have been a CCU account holder for over a year, and I wanted to share 2 resources I created help anyone who decides to open an account meet the 12 debit card transactions and bill pay requirement for CCU rewards checking.
You can automate the bill payment (even if you don’t have a bill to pay) by using this tutorial video:
Automated Bill Pay Instructions
http://www.screencast.com/t/4AzNbvodve
You can cover the 12 debit card transaction requirement by using PayPal as shown in this tutorial video:
PayPal Instructions:
http://www.screencast.com/t/qc3ZUDjlEC4
Of course, you can also just buy 12 cups of coffee or use your debit card regularly, but I always use credit cards for purchases so I can earn points. The PayPal strategy can be especially helpful if you are traveling internationally in a place where credit cards are rarely accepted.
If you travel a lot, I am working on a book that discusses how the CCU account can be used to save hundreds on ATM fees. I’m looking for testimonials, so if you want to check out a free copy, email me at support [at] studyabroadsummitt [dot] com
Hope you found the video tutorials useful.
- Erik
February 6th, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Thank you for bringing the Slate credit card to my attention.
I tried to do a transfer from Discover to Discover but unlike the person from previous transfer post I was told that they don’t allow that. And although I didn’t want to pay 3% for the Citi offer, I was about to apply, but then I noticed your newest post. Needless to say although I’m not a big fan of Chase I rather not pay the 3% or even $5 if I don’t have too.
Thanks again.
February 6th, 2012 at 6:23 pm
I already had Chase Freedom and Sapphire when I applied for Slate a month ago. When I got the Slate card in the mail, my credit line was $7k. When I called to activate, the CSR was able to move my credit line from Freedom and Sapphire (I left $5k in Freedom and $500 in Sapphire) and increased my Slate credit line to $32k. Heee.
I then transferred $20k from Citicard with no balance transfer fee (if done within 30 days of account opening) and got 0% APY for 12 months. I have the money to pay in full in my Rewards Checking Account (which earns 3.01% interest), but I prefer to earn that interest and pay in full before the deadline. It works for me. I net hundreds of dollars in the end.
February 7th, 2012 at 6:25 am
Hi, i applied for this credit card but chase would not let me transfer money to my bank account neither they would offer me checks. i did not try moving the balance to another credit card since i wanted to take atleast 30K out. I would love to see some success stories in terms of how did ppl take money from this offer.
February 7th, 2012 at 7:28 am
Umair, I have never found a way to get money from Chase by having them deposit directly into my bank account. I don’t remember getting any checks from them. I know that my Citicards offer these options.
Read the fine print for your Slate card. Mine requires the balance transfer to be done within 30 days of account opening. When I activated my card by phone, I asked the CSR for the date of my account opening and wrote it down. After 30 days, Slate charges 3% BT fee. Another thing: Slate does not offer any cashback rebate, so I don’t want to use for purchases.
Within the 30 days, I used my Citicards, which offer 1% to 5% cashback, to prepay expenses (health insurance premiums, car insurance, utilities, etc.), then transferred the balance to the Slate card. I also transferred existing balances from other credit cards whose 0% APY promos were about to end If you time the 0% offers and if you have excellent credit, you can continue 0% APY indefinitely. I keep the amount necessary to pay in full in my Rewards Checking Account just in case.
February 7th, 2012 at 8:02 am
Has anyone had any luck using zero % APR and/or balance transfers to pay off student debt? My fiancee is carrying a bunch, and paying it off diligently, but if we could put even an extra 5k into the debt straight away it would save us three hundred some odd dollars in the first year. I see the portion of the post where getting a “cash advance” is discussed, but would love some more info on the actual mechanics.
February 7th, 2012 at 12:09 pm
Jon, Others – I’m a new to this, so please advise me.
I’m thinking of transferring $10K of balance and invest elsewhere to make some money over next 15 months. We are also thinking of buying our first house sometime in 2013. I’m wondering if having this outstanding balance of $10K even if it is at 0% for a year, would have negative impact on my credit score? Please advise if I should stay away from this offer if I’ll be shopping for mortgage a year from now.
February 7th, 2012 at 2:20 pm
@umair – What I would do is transfer whatever I could to a Citi card that I am already using for whatever purchases possible, like Newlyfrugal did, but transfer even more and create a negative balance on my Citi card (so they owe you money). It’s best to use a Citi card that you are already using for various purchases as to not make them worry you’re doing something shady (which you’re not, this is legiti balance transfer which you’ll pay back). Then, there will be an option online in Citi website to refund credit balance, which will send you the excess via check. Now you have cash and balance owed to Chase at 0% with no fee.
@washerdreyer – I have heard of many people do this. You may be able to balance transfer directly into your student loan account by providing Chase with the account number, but I am not sure. Otherwise you’ll have to do the credit balance refund mentioned above.
@Nik – If you use 100% of available credit line (10k of 10k) there will be an negative effect on your credit. Even taking only 75% or 60% will make the effect much less. However, I can’t predict how much it will drop. If you have old accounts and lots of them, the effect will be much smaller than if you have only one young account. As soon as you pay off most of the balance and only less than 50% utilization ratio is shown on your credit report, your score will bounce back. So as long as you pay it off a month or two before you shop for mortgages, it won’t have any effect. I hope all these factors help you make a decision.
February 8th, 2012 at 3:52 pm
Anyone who already has a chase ink card able to apply for a new second ink card to get this offer. I have an existing 0% APR BT offer for my existing Chase Ink, but it comes with a 2% fee.
February 9th, 2012 at 10:29 am
Publishing an “expense reduction guide” will be greatly appreciated!
February 24th, 2012 at 6:32 am
Can we use this balance transfer towards mortgage principle. I have 4.5% 30 yr
March 29th, 2012 at 1:26 pm
I see that we can still apply for this deal. Any idea when this offer will expire and we can no longer sign up?