A few days ago, a visitor of Smart Balance Transfers contacted me about an issue she had with a credit card check her fiance received in the mail. I have long cautioned against the use of balance transfer and cash advance checks, mainly because there is always a chance that these checks may bounce.
Below is Irina’s experience with a bouncing credit card check from Citibank. Fortunately, she did not incur great expense. However, anyone considering use of these credit card checks should think twice before using them.
From Irina:
1. My fiance has a credit card with Citibank. He is paying it off and has never incurred in default. His APR is about 7%.
2. At the beginning of June, he received an offer via mail. It was a set of 4 balance transfer checks with 0% APR til December, 2011 and 19.99% APR afterwards, with a 4% fee. In order to use them, he was supposed to call the bank and authenticate them.
3. My fiance saw an opportunity to get some credit card relief and make some payments and decided to take 3,000. He called and validated them. The executive that made sure of that told him that he could write the check to himself, go to a Citibank branch and get cash. Continue Reading »
