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Not Telling
If you do a balance transfer promo with Bank Of America, planning on just putting the $$ in the bank to collect interest for a year, be aware that you are still charged interest on the transaction fee, and that extra dollar or two could put you over your credit limit, triggering an over-the-credit-limit fee.That almost happened to me, but the CSR was nice enough to waive the $1.31 interest charge.
This must be a fairly new policy for them. I did a 0% cash advance promo in the amount of $27,425 with my Charles Schwab BOA card as recently as November or December. My credit limit was $27,500, and the transaction fee for the cash advance was $75. I was never charged interest on either the cash advance or the transaction fee during the entire time the balance was outstanding.
BOA seems to be tweaking its policies after its recent acquisition of MBNA. Before the acquisition, just about every time I tried to find a 0% MBNA balance transfer or cash advance offer, the 3% transaction fee wasn't subject to a ceiling (thus negating the possibility of an effective arbitrage). I was surprised and pleased when I was able to find the BOA offer with a $75 ceiling.
I wonder if there is a clause in the terms and conditions of the balance transfer offer indicating that the transaction fee is subject to the standard APR for BTs, cash advances, or purchases. The first time that I did a credit card arbitrage with a transaction fee (with Chase), I specifically asked the CSR whether the fee was subject to interest charges during the promotional period. It wasn't, and I have never been charged interest on a transaction fee, but it seems that it would be prudent to look out for this in the future.
--Jay
