Credit Cards?

[ItyBty]

I'm really sick of paying stupidly high interest rates... how can I get them lowered? I've been workign hard at paying them off, on time. I've raised my "scores" a lot in the last 3 years, yet both of my cerdit cards are high double-digits. :

Can I just call and request a lower rate? Or should I just apply for a new lower rate card and transfer the balances? Or should I try both?

WWYD?

[~Shanna~]

Originally Posted by ItyBty

Can I just call and request a lower rate?
WWYD?

Yes! If you call and request a lower rate, they can tell you over the phone the best they can do. I would take it (and let them know that you'll be shopping for a lower rate, can they do better?), and in the meantime check around for lower. Depending on your credit score, you can get it as low as 0% for a certain period of time.

DH and I have, in the past, played the merry-go-round of transferring balances because we saw it would save us money. Right now, I'm pushing him to go cash-only - we're fairly disciplined people, but we definately spend more on credit than we ordinarily would.

[Emilie]

Call call call and KEEP CALLING! The credit card companies are now protected more under law. We payed on time over the Minium paymen for 3 years and they RAISED our rates. CAUSE THEY COULD! Form 14%-28%. My dad luckily paid ours off. CALL CALL CALL!
CUT UP YOUR CARDS! Do not support the credit card companies lame practices!

[ItyBty]

Yay! I just called and got the rate on one card dropped down a bunch.

[Emilie]

Woooohoooooo!!!yeahhhh!!!!!!

: : :

[snozzberry]

The low-interest merry-go-round is definitely the way to go! I just finished paying off several thousand in credit card debt last month and transferring balances to 0% or really low-interest cards was the only way to go. Now I'm onto paying off my student loans, but make sure you won't end up paying *any* interest on student loan transfers to credit cards because if you just left them as loans you could deduct the interest on your federal income tax.

[Shiloh]

or throw around words like
thinking of filing bankrupsty...
moving out of the country may not come back...the interest rates are so high I mean if they were lower I might pay it off but how long until you just write it off as a bad debt?

but seriously I'd pull the another card offered me x% can you match that?

[Drummer's Wife]

Glad you got them to drop the rates. you can keep calling and trying to get it lower and do so with the other ones as well... If you do find one with a long enough 0% or low interest rate then you might want to consolidate all of them onto it. I agree with tell them you are considering bankrupcy, it's worth a try... if that were to happen they would see any of the money.

And like other's said, stop using them!!! cut them up and never get another... well unless it's necessary but then pay it back in full each and every month.

The only plastic we use anymore is debit cards and it is so much less stressfull... though it means when we are broke we are broke... but we somehow manage until payday.

[ItyBty]

Oh, the only thing my credit cards get used for is stuff that I wouldn't be able to pay for otherwise, or when its just simply easier to use em - like the odd Amazon or Ebay purchase, or the "Oh no, I'm out of gas and I have no cash on me, and where *did* I put the debit card?" (which is rare, thankfully... ). The balance on them isn't high either, I've been really good about that - when I was 18/19 I was a bad-bad-credit-user, and I goofed things up a bit, and I spent a few years fixing what I broke, and I'm not about to screw up all that hard work now.
I just realized the other day what the interest rate was on one of my cards and was all : I've had it for just a hair over a year, and I guess that one year intro 10% expired last month, and they raised it to over 26%!!! : So (after I started breathing again...) I called and basically said, "I want a lower rate, who do I talk to?" and they dropped it a bit. I plan on making it a monthly habit, pay, call, ask for a better rate. What can it hurt, right?

[Raynbow]

Keep doing it - every few months, call and ask.
I have two credit cards - I have them mostly paid off and rarely use them. When they call me or I call them, I always ask them to reduce the rates - I'll even threaten to close my account (and I HAVE done that, btw).
My rates currently are 5.90% and 3.99%