Can you Transfer Credit From One Chase Credit Card to Another?

Transferring or reallocating credit from one credit card to another is a common request. There are a number of different reasons why one would put in such a request and while it’s relatively straightforward to do with Chase, there are a few things you should be aware of.

Why would you want to transfer credit to another credit card?

There are a few reasons why you would want to process such a transfer.

  • If you have a high balance on one card then transferring credit over to that card could decrease your utilization.
  • A higher credit limit will give you more room for bigger purchases and perhaps to meet a minimum spend.
  • You want to cancel a card but preserve the credit line by transferring it to another card first.
  • You’re not comfortable with a really high credit limit for whatever reason.
  • Transferring credit is sometimes necessary to get approved for a credit card.

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How do you transfer credit to another credit card?

You can transfer credit to another card via a phone call or secured message.

Phone call

Simply call in and tell the phone representative the specific card that you want to transfer from and the card you’d like to transfer to and they should be able to process it very quickly (typically instantly). I recommend identifying your cards by the last four digits because I once had credit transferred to the wrong Freedom card.

They don’t usually interrogate you about your motives for wanting the transfer so you shouldn’t need to explain yourself but if they do ask you can just tell them that you’re trying to better organize your credit lines.

Be sure to reiterate that you do not want to cancel your credit cards. 

Secured message

If you want to avoid a phone call just send a short and sweet secured message with something like the following:

Hello,

I wanted to inquire about reallocating credit lines between my credit cards. I would like to transfer $X amount of credit from my _____ card ending in 1234 to my ____ card ending in 1234. 

Could you kindly process this transfer for me? 

Thank you,

-Person

Potential hiccups

Sometimes you might run into a few hiccups.

It’s unlikely but possible that the agent will not be familiar with credit line transfers and they may tell you that it’s not possible. If that’s that case, I recommend just hanging up and calling back again. You’ll probably eventually get a rep on the phone that can help.

It’s also possible that the rep will tell you that there’s a certain minimum that the card’s credit line cannot go below. For example, a Chase credit card might need a minimum credit line of $500 to be active and if it’s a card like a Visa Signature they might tell you it can’t go below $5,000.

Aside from the $500 minimum, these “mandatory minimums” are a very murky area sometimes since I’ve been able to reduce credit limits for Visa Signature cards well below $5,000 before. If you’re given a minimum credit line that you think should be lower, my suggestion is to just call back and check with another rep to verify that you can’t get around the policy.

It does seem very difficult to get around these minimums when opening up a new card, though. So for example, if you apply for a new card and are told you’ll be approved but only if you transfer credit and your new credit card needs a credit line of $5,000, it might be very difficult to get around that. You might be able to decrease the credit line later on but for purposes of getting approved, you’ll probably have to transfer credit on the spot to meet that minimum $5,000.

Can you transfer credit lines to a business card?

I had heard reports of some transferring lines of credit from personal cards to business cards when opening up a business card but I think those cases are rare and perhaps outdated. Every single time I ever tried that I was told it’s not possible and based on my research, I don’t think you can transfer credit to and from business and personal Chase credit cards.

Does Chase run a hard pull when you transfer credit?

Luckily, Chase will almost never force you to incur a hard pull whenever you transfer credit from one card to another card. I have seen reports that Chase will perform a hard pull if you’re transferring substantial amounts of credit, though. For example, if you will cause a card’s limit to exceed $35,000 you might get hit with a hard pull but Chase should first provide you with that warning.

However, they will force you to incur a hard pull if you request a credit limit increase.

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