Late fees can eat into your debt repayment plan, but having a high interest rate is even worse. Yet, most of us are more likely to call and ask to have a late fee waived. Try calling your card issuer and asking for a lower interest rate.
Photo by Sean MacEntee.
As financial advice site Clark suggests, you may have a higher chance of reducing your interest rate than you think. According to a survey from CreditCards.com, 78% of people who asked to have their interest rates reduced were successful. However, only 1 in 5 people surveyed even attempted to ask.
We tend to see things like interest rates as solid numbers. That’s not necessarily so. If you’re putting together a plan to pay off your credit cards, include a step where you call up your credit card company and ask to reduce that interest rate. That tiny step could save you hundreds over the long term. Just make sure you do your research first so that you’ll have reasons to back up why your credit card interest rate should be reduced.
How can you get an interest rate lowered or late fees waived? Just ask! [Clark]
Comments
2 responses to “Call And Ask To Have The Interest Rate Reduced On Your Credit Cards”
This is a US-based article. Note that (if you go to the link) their interest rates are already lower than any of my cards.
I’d be really interested to know if anyone in Australia has tried this, and if so, what their results were. I suspect that they might not have too much luck, at least with the Big 4.
Kinda tried it with stgeorge/bank of melbourne. They range for a supposed customer satisfaction thing. I asked about swapping my card for a lower interest rate card. They said they couldn’t do that. And that you can’t swap cards internally with them. Only start a new one or do a swap if your from another bank.