Can You Get a Lower Credit Card Interest Rate?
September 7, 2007 by Miranda Marquit
Filed under Finance
For October, as Get Rich Slowly points out, Consumer Reports did an issue on credit cards. My husband, always helpful, pointed this out to me when his CR arrived. “Look!” he said, “Can you use this at all?” I became excited as well. Less so when I found out how “crappy” my credit cards are rated. But I’m still happy about them because they do what I need them to do, and give me rewards that I can use. But the piece of information I found really helpful was the information about getting a lower credit card interest rate:
Readers who called their card issuers to negotiate a lower rate succeeded more than 50 percent of the time. And 79 percent of readers who tried were successful in persuading their card issuer to waive a penalty fee. In another recent survey the Consumer Reports National Research Center found that 57 percent of people who bargained with their banks or card issuers over fees saved $50 or more.
This is great news, because credit card interest rates and fees are on their way up. But, if you are a good customer with a reliable record, you can actually get a break. Here are some tips that might help you get a lower credit card interest rate:
- Be polite, no matter who you are talking to
- Ask for a supervisor if the person you are speaking with can’t get you a lower rate
- Mention other offers, or mention that you are downsizing your wallet and want to keep the card with the best rate
- Make sure that you mention that, overall, you are satisfied, but you think that you should have a lower rate
- Point out your impeccable (or nearly so) payment record and your good credit
If you have a good record, you are likely to get at least a 2 or 3 point lower credit card interest rate. And if you are really serious, cancel the card if you do not get the reduction.
You bet it works. The other thing to remember if you use a balance transfer offer with no expiration date don’t transfer again to one with a better rate AND an expiration date. I went through a bad patch a few years ago and did this with interest rates ranging from 3.9 to 5.9%, so the debt I’m carrying is way below bank rates.
The caveat is that if you miss a payment the rate can jump to 20+%, so it’s not a good move if you can’t make the payments.
So true! And don’t forget that going over your limit can also bounce your rate up. And with credit card companies boosting their rates and fees, you may soon see rates up there around 30%
Good points on being polite, when talking to the customer service reps as they are the first line, and will drop your call if you’re rude. I had a 100% success rate in getting late fees waived and having my rates dropped, by calling my card companies. You have to be proactive, if you don’t make the effort in helping yourself, your card company will not voluntarily do it.
I was contacted by H.K.Finance of Orlando,FL.They tell me they can get my credit card interest rates lowered to 2.9% on each card.True at the current rate I will never get them paid off.But,they want to charge me a one time fee of 995.00.Saying this won’t show up on my balance because the bank will be covering it because of the interest money saved.I don’t understand this.So what is really goin on here?Will I get ripped off or will it help me pay off the credit cards? Help…
I would watch out for any company that asks for that much money up front. That is rarely a good sign. It sounds more like a debt consolidation or counseling company that negotiates with your creditors to get you a lower rate. You usually have to close your accounts as well. I’d look at other options first, such as talking to your creditors directly, or setting up some sort of other payment plan. $995 is awfully high for a credit program. I’d stay away.