Are you one of the thousands of consumers that cringes when you open a new credit card bill? Are you disgusted with the interest rates that you are paying on your charge card accounts? Well, there is a way around these interest rates! Many people refer to credit card companies as all mighty corporations that are reluctant to help people. As much as I would love to agree with this, I have to say that it is not a fact. Banks are a lot like a mom and pop store in a way. Without clients, they will go out of business. You can use this fact to obtain lower interest rates on your credit cards. There are a few steps that you should follow during these negotations:
1. Know the facts! - Don’t start contacting credit card companies until you have figured out the facts about the account in question. Get your last bill and find out exactly what the APR is on the account. Also, it is a good thing to figure out what your balance on the account is and how close you are to your line of credit. This will come in handy when negotiating if you are not too close to your credit limit.
2. Call your bank - When calling banks it is crucial that you are polite! Being rude will get you no where especially when you take into account that the banker does not have to do a thing for you. So once again I can not stress it enough, be polite! When you first call, on average you will have to enter some information in an automated system that allows the credit card company to make sure to transfer you to the right department. Go ahead and answer the questions on the automated system. Once you get to the representative, very politely say “I was going through my credit cards and I noticed that this charge card has the highest interest rate. I like the charge card, and I like working with this credit card company but of course I am a little upset about the rate on this account. Is there anything that you can do to make this interest rate a bit more competative?”. After you say this, the representative is most likely going to put you on hold. When they come back they are most likely going to explain to you that there are now lower rates that can be placed on the account at the moment. This is OK don’t get mad don’t start being rude just move on to the next step.
3. Get to the retention department - Just about every bank has a retention department. This is a department specifically designed to do what ever possible to retain the customer including the ability to lower interest rates. To get there just simply ask “ok I understand but I have balance transfer offers coming in the mail and I do not want to go through the hassel of going to another bank can you please transfer me to the retention department?”. The representative will most likely gladly transfer you. Once you get to that department use the same line with them that you used with the customer service representative “I was going through my credit cards and I noticed that this credit card has the highest interest rate. I like the credit card, and I like working with this credit card company but of course I am a little upset about the apr on this account. Is there anything that you can do to make this interest rate a bit more competative?”. Once again you will be put on hold, but this time when the representative comes back, you will most likely get a lower rate.
If you don’t get a lower rate, I know of a company that is by far the best and a very reasonable price called Jem Credit Cards you can contact them:
By phone - (561) 355-0069
By email - Support@JemCreditCards.com
On the web - www.JemCreditCards.com
Just a good piece of information, if you don’t have one already, Discover card is the best credit card as far as rates, rewards, and customer service is conserned. To find the best one for you go to www.JemCreditCards.com
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