NEW YORK—The coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the economy is leading major card issuers to reduce or even eliminate special balance transfer offers. Among the big issuers reducing incentives for balance transfers have been JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, Barclays and Capital One.
“American Express took the most drastic step, dropping the product altogether,” CNBC reported.
“We are not currently offering balance transfers across all our card products,” American Express said in a statement. “From time to time, we make adjustments to our offerings to ensure we’re managing risk for our customers and the company in a responsible way.”
CNBC noted banks were burned in the 2008 recession when those taking advantage of balance transfers had some of the highest default rates among all cardholders.
“Now, lenders are being more selective about who they make no-interest offers to, favoring customers with higher credit scores and other advantages,” CNBC said.