"Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I'll show you somebody who has never achieved much."Joan Collins
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Bad Credit Refinance Loans - Finding a Good Lender
Finding a good lender to help you with refinancing your home loan can be tricky if you have bad credit. There are plenty of predatory lenders out there who would like to take advantage of you with excessively high interest rates and fees. The key to ...
Obtaining a Poor Credit Business Loan
Business owners with poor credit ratings may find it difficult to obtain a loan for business purposes, such as expansion or to invest in a new product. Because lenders focus primarily on personal credit scores for business loans, you need to focus your ...
Wireless Credit Card Processing
New credit card processing options are available to telephone and mail order merchants that make it easy to do credit card processing by phone. A wireless credit card reader makes it easier for mobile merchants to obtain authorizations from remote ...
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I have three major credit card accounts that I've had for many years. The other night I was reconciling my monthly statements and noticed a large discrepancy in the APR's (annual percentage rate) I was paying on these three accounts.
My first card, card "A", has an APR of 8.9%; card "B" has an APR of 9.9%; and card "C" has an APR of 17.9% -Ouch ! I knew I had to see what I could do about this"out of range" interest rate on card "C". So I considered a couple of options.
One choice would be to transfer or switch the balance on card "C" to a new card with a lower APR. This would be very easy to do since I had received several pre-approved credit card offers earlier in the week. They included "convenience checks" that I could use to payoff that high APR credit card, thereby transferring that balance to a new account.
I decided against this option however because I didn't really want to add another account to my credit profile. Your credit score, that "magic number" that establishes your credit-worthiness to merchants can be affected negatively by having too many accounts.
So instead I decided to contact the issuer of credit card "C" to see what they could do about that 17.9% APR which seemed so out of line with my two other credit card accounts. I reasoned this was the better of the two options before me since I've already established a relationship with this company; a relationship which included many years of on-time payments which reflects positively in my credit profile with the credit bureaus.
I called the 800 number and talked to a very a nice gentleman. I explained to him the reason for my call; two other credit card issuers offered me a much more reasonable interest rate and so I'd like to see what his company could offer to me.
I wasn't surprised when he replied that he could lower my current rate from 17.9% to 15.9%. Since the credit card company makes a profit from the interest rate they charge I didn't expect to be offered the best or lowest rate right off the bat. I prepared myself to have to do a little negotiating.
And so I reminded him that my account was in goodstanding and had been for many years now. I had not made any late payments and always made more thanthe minimum payment due.
Again he informed me that the best he could offer was a rate of 15.9% that would be good until August 2003. So now not only was I not feeling like I was getting a very good deal but this new rate would only be a "promotional" rate !
I remained calm and friendly, knowing that yelling at him or telling him what a "lousy" company he worked for would be counterproductive to my end goal - a lower and better APR for this account. I thaned him for his time but told him I didn't feel this was a very good offer.
And then the "magic" happened. He asked if I would like to speak to an account manager and that perhaps they could better assist me. I thanked him for his time and assistance and was then transferred to an account manager.
I explained my dilemma to her and reasoned with her that as a good customer I expected a much better rate. She empathized with me and then offered to upgrade my account to their platinum status which carried an APR of 9.9% ! In addition, the platinum card offered many more benefits and had no annual fee. She also assured me that this was a "contract rate" and not a promotional rate. I would keep the same account number so I would not be opening a "new" account but simply upgrading my current account status.
Next time you are reconciling your monthly statements take a close look at the various APR's you are paying. If you notice a disparity in the rates you are paying, call your card issuers to negotiate a better rate. My persistence paid off. Be persistent - it can pay off for you too!
About the Author
© 2005, http://www.yourfreecreditreportnow.com
Author: James H. Dimmitt
James is editor of “To Your Credit” a FREE weekly newsletter focusing on managing your personal finances and credit. Subscribe and get a FREE copy of your credit report when you visit: http://www.yourfreecreditreportnow.com
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