How Dependable is ICICI Bank's Balance Transfer on Credit Card?

Like many others, I also opt for balance transfer between credit cards many times, but SBI Cards as a transferor has always been my first preference for the reasons detailed here.


However, this time, it was a bit different, I chose ICICI as a transferor. Not because I have some sort of particular attraction to them but because they wanted me to opt-in into their balance transfer offer. I had been receiving those spammy emails and messages.

Straight to the point, on 14th of July, I logged-in into my ICICI app to check my cards' outstanding amounts. The BT offer popped in the app as well.

As I had a large amount due on one of my StanChart Credit Card that had its due date on 19th July; I thought to avail the BT. Everything went fine, and the BT request was successfully submitted. Perfect, I thought.

On 18th July, I received an SMS on my phone that said that my BT request has been declined. I took aback, as I had less than 24 hours to pay the sum of Rs 64,000 to my StanChart Credit Card. It was a stressful affair, but somehow, I managed the funds so that I could avoid those unwelcoming colossal amount of finance charges. Not sure why ICICI Bank had to offer me a BT that they were not going to honour.

You now know how dependable ICICI Bank is for Balance Transfers!

Why I prefer SBI Cards as a transferor you ask?

It's because :

• The BT amount that you can avail is shown beforehand
• Once the BT request is submitted, you can rest assured that it won't be declined
• Lower ROI and faster processing turnaround time
• BT at SBI Cards is a benefit, not an offer
- With that I mean, you can avail the BT option anytime you wish to. BT amount that you are eligible for is as per your available credit limit on the card. BT on ICICI is treated as an offer, you can only avail it only when offered by the bank to be declined.

Thanks for reading!