Most credit card companies do not care whose balance you transfer to that card.

Now I only recommend doing this for a family member, significant other, or dear friend that you trust is not going to run off an leave you holding the bag.

But if you have good credit and one of those balance transfer offers and someone you trust is stuck under a mountain of debt due to interest fees on a large credit card balance?

You can absolutely transfer all or part of their credit debt to the card under your name and give them a year's break on interest accrual.

I did this recently for my brother when he lost his job and was getting creamed by interest fees. So long as you have the person's credit card credentials (and again, that this is somebody you trust who is not going to skip off and vanish and will actually help you pay off the debt), you can transfer their balance.

It used to be that it had to be a balance from a credit card under your own name but apparently credit card companies (or some of them at least) just don't really care anymore.

I don't know if this could help anybody else but it definitely helped my brother get his legs back under him to just pay minimums for a bit and not get blasted by interest fees for a year so I figured I'd share since it may not be known you can do this.

Again though, definitely only do this with a person you 100% trust will actually pay the monthly minimums and not just skip off or vanish or something because the debt will now be in your name on your credit card, not theirs.

The extra funny part is chances are, the person whose debt was transferred might get their own balance transfer offer before the year expires so you can basically ping-pong balances around and not pay interest for longer than that if the cards line up right.

Might as well use any advantage or loophole you can against these companies while they exist.

Anyway, my timeline is public so feel free to replurk/repost/share this around whatever you'd like.

another thing to keep in mind: having high balances on cards can damage/lower your score, so it's best to keep the amount as below the limit as you can, and set a deadline for how long you'll carry it.

^^^ This too. I wouldn't recommend doing this if you plan to make a big purchase (house/car/etc.) that would require a good credit score to make since the balance transfer will impact it.

But, in exchange the person who has the debt transferred off will likely see their credit score go up (my brother did anyway), so if they've been trying to make a big purchase (house/car/etc.) and weren't finding success because of their debt lowering their credit score, this can also be a huge help.

Ty for the info. Only not sharing because I have some friends on my plurk with abusive parents that might read their screen and I do not want to give said parents ideas

ChickletLARP Totally fair!

Doesn't opening a new account lower your credit score? In addition to the additional debt-carried affecting your credit score.

the hard pull on your credit bureau can also lower your score, yes.

the hard pull does, but also they look at the average length of open accounts, so a new one will lower that average slightly; how much depends on how many other lines of credit you have and their ages

there are unfortunately some credit damaging risks involved in this idea. it's the cost trade-off and tbh i would never do it, but it's an option for, say, partners with deep trust who want to work together to build credit for one.

someone who you know has poor spending or repayment habits for example should NOT be helped this way. there are other tools they can utilize.

on the other hand, if you have one or more really old cards (never close them unless they're costing money to maintain) 1 new one won't do much damage

my biggest caution is: if the person you're thinking about doing this for got hit by a bus and died tomorrow, how screwed will you be?

^^^ intensely valid caution

anything can happen at any time, do not accept more transferred debt than you yourself could afford to pay down if something bad happened.

All of this. I can't stress enough that this is really only a good option for spouses/partners or close family (close as in trustworthy). But I wanted to put this out there because it is an option that might not be known and if your loved one is really stuck in a hole, it can help get them out of it.

My only input on this is get it in writing. it doesn't matter how much you trust someone - except for certain circumstances within marriage, always get this kind of thing in writing in three copies. On e for each of you and one for an attorney if you can afford it, as neutral a third party as you can find if not.

(The reason I say that marriage can be an exception is because in some states your resources after your marriage are treated as a unit already. consult a LOCAL attorney.)

Also, double check the charges for balance transfers. I was considering doing this for myself but transferring credit card debt to the card I was signing up for cost like 5% to move, after which it would have 0% APR

And even a low percentage for it can add a lot to a big transfer

Yes, definitely be mindful of the charge for the transfer itself!

But on the upside, on a lot of cards, the cost of the transfer is applied to the card along with the balance so you won't have to pay it all up front (although it will accrue interest until it's paid off, unlike the balance transferred). And from there you'll just need to pay the monthly minimums.

That goes for most any balance transfer though lol.