Tip on Lowering Your Credit Card Rate With One Call
It could take as little effort as one phone call to lower your credit card interest rate, according to Curtis Arnold, of Cardratings.com, a site that lists the best credit card offers currently available. His one-call theory was put to the test by local Houston TV station KTRK, which hired a bunch of “card testers” to check it out, with surprising results: about half of those who made one call to their credit card company succeeded to get a lower rate. One tester, Joelle Miller, lowered her rate by almost seven percent! Before you pick up the phone, check out Arnold’s top tips on how to gab your way into lowering what you pay:
1. Get a Handle on History – Knowing your account history is step one; if you don’t pay late, tell that to the credit card company’s customer service representative.
2. Know the Score – Most consumers have a credit score in the 700-range, which is considered good. You can find out your credit score for free via FreeCreditReport.com. This free credit score is truly unique, since most of the time they cost up to US$14.95. If you have a score around 700, tell the card representative.
3. Get Tough - The average credit card rate is 15%. If you are paying more than that, tell the representative you are speaking to that you know you can get a better rate somewhere else. Ask them point blank why you are paying such a high rate. If he/she refuses to lower the rate, tell them you want to close the account. You don't actually have to follow through with the threat, but by saying it you will be transferred to the account retention department; that's the place designed to keep you as a customer. They are the ones who have the authority to make bigger concessions.
4. No Means Call Back in 15 - If your credit card rep says no, call back in 15 minutes. You'll be speaking to a different person, and that may be all it takes to get that lower rate. If the answer is still no, Arnold says find a credit card with a low rate on balance transfers, and move the balance to that new card.
Comments
To get your credit report goto annualcreditreport.com not freecreditreport.com. Annualcreditreport.com is the website set up by the federal government that allows you access to your credit report from each of the three credit agencies once per year per a fairly new law. Freecreditreport.com requires you to enroll in a service called triple advantage so in truth it is not free.
Both sites work well and we use them at our financial. Freecreditreport.com will give you a score and a report without enrollment in Triple Advantage, however doing so gets you a triple report from all three major reporters instead of the basic's one.
Thanks to P. Adams for the correction on the site - freecreditreport.com is the one with the TV ads - I am posting my comment to reiterate the point already made.
The legally mandated free credit report website is annualcreditreport.com - there you can get your free annual copy of your credit reports from the three agencies. You wont get a credit score for free, but at least you wont be hustled into paying for what you are legally entitled to. I check one agency every 3-4 months and if there are any need for corrections, I can check to see if the correction has taken effect as I check the other agencies report later in the year. I have also found that TRW is the weakest report, thus it is the first one I hit every year, experion is the last one.
First step - worm out which cards have lower rates than your current credit card.
Then call your credit card company and notice that you are thinking of canceling your account and going with another card with a much lower rate. Ask for a rate that matches the other card.
Lowcards.com is an easy place to compare your current rate and rewards with other cards. It is also a good resource for comparing offers you receive in the mail. It ranks and reviews credit cards and explains the fees and terms found in the fine print.
www.lowcards.com/
There are three major credit reporting agencies, so you can check out their web-sites. They use all the information on your credit history to create your credit report. As for comparing credit card deals, the most important thing is making an apple-to-apple comparison. Making a chart will help. You can also find some useful info on specialized sights such as www.creditcardspeciali... It's always nice to know what specialists think
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THANKS for your help!
Sincerely,
Raj Vats
(I'm coming here from a link in Make: magazine.)
If you can't get all your cards down to the same low rate, this technique works nicely for paying the least amount of interest.
1. Pay the minimum balance on all your cards.
2. Use the lowest interest rate card for your purchases. (If that hits the maximum, use the next lowest, etc.)
3. If you have extra income at the end of the month, send it to the card with the highest interest rate.
4. Once that card is paid off, goto 1.
In other words, don't send more money than the minimum to a card with a lower interest rate than your highest interest rate card, because (do the math) you'll end up spending more money in both the short term, and after paying them all off.
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