Comments on: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Your Credit Card Interest Rates Reduced

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:44:29 +0000

Hello all. I tried to make a call and do some negotiating. I didn’t get very far. I’m a bit of a pushover. They told me over the phone I have a variable APR and there’s nothing they can do to change it. If you have a variable APR, does that mean it can’t be adjusted? Or did I just give up too soon?

By: KD

KD — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 16:58:59 +0000

I just gave this a shot with my credit union. I’ve had the card for 9 1/2 years, the interest rate is 14.99%. They told me that they do not have the ability to lower interest rates until February because they changed their policy and froze their rates due to the changes by the government recently. Is this just a bunch of crap or what?

By: JG

JG — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 18:28:01 +0000

My wife had a $12k balance on her card with a 240/month payment. She contacted a debt management company who wanted to charge a fortune. She just picked up the phone and called her credit card company and said that we’re having hard times, and that we won’t be able to make the payment anymore, and we’re being proactive in looking for a resolution before turning the card over to a debt management firm. The credit card company lowered her interest rate from 23.99% to 6%!!! They closed the account, so she can’t use the card anymore, but reflected it on her credit report as self closed. NOW is the time to do this. Everyone is walking away from their debt, so the companies are willing to work with people.

By: PJ

PJ — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:49:04 +0000

What happened to basic economics? If everyone that has no balance cancled their cards and those with a balance wiped them then cancled their cards how will the credit card companies afford to stay in business. They will be forced to lower their rates or go bankrupt.
Yes it will take a bit more planning to pay everything with cash but those of us that are smart dont carry any major balances on cards anyway.

By: Kristi

Kristi — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:45:28 +0000

Like many of the other people who have posted, I have also been hit with outrageous increases in APR, for NO reason (except for the reason Paul Tree gave with the new protection bill). I will say, the protection bill may have hurt me more than it helped.

I tried calling Chase today to do this.. they refuse to bring down ANY of my APRs. I had a “change in terms” they said where my rates went from 8.99% to 19.24%, and they will not do anything because I accepted the terms of the agreement by not canceling my card before the change of terms were set.

Chase would rather me cancel every card I have with them, than keep me as a customer (sadly they have my longest standing card which I want to cancel but feel it would be a bad idea.)

By: Paul Tree

Paul Tree — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:46:37 +0000

THE ABOVE ADVICE IS NO LONGER USEFUL AS OF FEBRUARY 2010.

That is the bottom line. The Consumer Credit protection bill that went through Congress was preempted by the credit companies raising rates on most cardholders. Now when you call them, they refuse to lower your rate. I have tried.

I used to have a 12.9% rate and they increased it to 29.9% for no reason other than that the new protection bill does not allow them to arbitrarily do that, so they did before it passed.

There are scoundrels and there are credit card companies, and given a choice, I’d rather keep the company of scoundrels.

By: pat

pat — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:13:39 +0000

i called my credit card companies and lhey refused to lower the rate and offered to close my account. i need one for emergencies but payments are so high now i am bogged down. any advice?

By: Amanda

Amanda — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:04:04 +0000

After reading all these comments, and some specific to BoA on other websites, I had mixed feelings about calling Bank of America and asking for a lower credit card interest rate. However, I sucked it up, wrote out a script, and called. It took me less than 5 minutes to get my rate lowered from 27% to 12%, and I didn’t even have to bargain or threaten to leave BoA. I just called and asked to speak with someone who could help me lower my interest rate, if possible (I was in the default zone of interest rates at 27% b/c my payment last month posted 1 day late). I was transferred, spoke to a very nice guy, and he immediately said, “yeah, I think we can lower this to 12.24%, no problem.”

So while I know there are risks nowadays to calling, I still think it’s worth a shot. Good luck to everyone!

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 17 May 2009 11:55:33 +0000

The biggest problem, is the economy. Citi jacked my interest rate from 13 to 29 because my payment was1 day late. No talking to anyone helped. Also if you are forced to talk to India, Brazil, The Philippines and other foreign based csr. You have no chance, or they will make matters once for you. Try to call Macy’s credit services. What ever problem you have they will make it worst.

By: Renee

Renee — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:03:45 +0000

I have several high interest cards with high balances totaling 10k. I recently made a few calls to Capital One, CitiBank, HSBC, and Chase. Try a script that includes the word, “Bankruptcy”. Tell them you are in the last stage of your bankruptcy counseling (legally mandated now) and if they cannot lower your interest rate drastically, then you’s like to get the department that will be handling your discharge claim. Especially if you are not in a position to threaten to transfer the balance to another card or if you have a low credit score. I promise you they become helpful very quickly. (Chase was the only one that wasn’t very helpful-granted I had the highest balance with them, I will try in a couple months when my other balances go down more.)

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:28:31 +0000

A few years back, I was working with a stock trading coach and one of the benefits he offered was coaching me through this. We both got on the phone and called US Bank, Bank of America, Chase, and Washington Mutual.

He said “Hi, my name is and I am working with my client to improve his credit. I wanted to know if you have any 0% promotional rates available at this time.”

Bank of America, US Bank, and Chase all gave me 0% for one year. Washington Mutual said “uh, we don’t do that for our customers.”

I promptly paid off Washington Mutual and never used that card again. After two years they reduced my credit line to $0. I couldn’t have cared less.

By: dem

dem — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:43:37 +0000

Just want to thank you for motivating me to take action… At the beginning of the year, I review our debt and started paying down/off the smaller ones. I’ve got one big one left which has a 24.99% rate. I just got off the phone. I spent 15 minutes with a very nice woman who was just doing her job, and like you said, she said, ‘no’… I waited a few minutes for her to get her supervisor and when all was said and done, they reduced my rate 4%. Based on my current balance, I save about $52 next month. Not bad for 31 minutes worth of work. Calculate what I save over the next 12 months and I figure I just ‘made’ a few hundred dollars per hour. Thanks again…

By: Ginger

Ginger — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:59:19 +0000

I NEVER give them a rate I want. I just call them and ask them to decrease it. On my higher interest cards I would tell them that but that was it. And almost always, I was able to get the interest reduced, btw this was never with a balance on the cards.

By: Melanie J

Melanie J — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:59:48 +0000

kind of related…I have a credit card I keep with no balance just for emergencies, but haven’t used it in 6 months. Just checked it to make sure noone was messing with it and the interest rate was 299.67% I called because, clearly this was a mistake. Oh no. Turns out, since I made no payments in 6 months (even though there’s no balance) they kept jacking the rate. I cancelled the card immediately. Can you imagine if I’d not been paying on a balance because of a financial emergency? Has this happened to anyone else? Ps, avoid Bank of America…

By: DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad

DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 06:49:09 +0000

Solid post!

I highly recommend scripting your phone calls– write down the bullet points you need to hit so you don’t lose your composure.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:38:59 +0000

I used this system to get my Discover card down from 25% to 13%, sweet. I just used Discover’s online secure message system and a day later they lowered my interest rate. No phone calls, no hassle. Love it.

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 05:27:15 +0000

I called Citi and lowered my interest rate from 18.99 to 12.something.
Not as much as some, but I wasn’t carrying a balance on my card.

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:53:25 +0000

I had my husband do this for his cards today. We have been debt snowballing, and hadn’t seen a decrease in the interest rate.

Using your script:

Citi lowered his 29% rate to 8.9%
Amex lowered his 27% rate to 13%

I’d say that’s pretty good! Thanks for giving me something that I could just email him and say, “Can you do this while you’re off today?” :)

By: Allen S.

Allen S. — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:28:17 +0000

I recently received a letter increasing my credit card rate to 17.9 percent. I carry no balance so I canceled the card. It is absurd when bank interest rates are at an all time low and the only ones not laying people off are the credit card companies and then squeezing the people who can least afford it. Sorry it just made me angry.

By: Diane

Diane — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:09:09 +0000

Cathy G. – If you get a notice to “reject changes to your interest rate” by closing the account, you will still be able to pay the balance off monthly. You have to decide whether you need the card enough to keep it open.

It will have a negative impact on your credit score to close an older account (long credit history) & also if closing an account will mean you have much less credit available (compared to what is used).

Things have changed, and it is not as easy to get credit card companies to work with you as it was in the past. I was fortunate to pay down my debt before the credit crunch, and I have not seen much negative impact on my interest rates.

In the past I have had success with requesting reduced interest rates & removal of annual fees, but is more difficult now. It is still worth asking though…

Most people I know who carry large balances have had their interest rates increased by several cards, with no recourse except to close the account & pay it off over time at the old rate. And the low interest balance transfer offers seem to have evaporated for the most part.

READ all notices from your credit card companies carefully so you don’t miss something important!

And I would stop charging anything that cannot be paid for when the bill arrives.