Dialing for Lower Credit Card Interest Rates

Finance experts everywhere insist that you can often lower your credit card interest rates simply by calling and requesting a better interest rate or a modified payment agreement with lower monthly payments. While this may be possible for some people, many people who seem to need the slight financial break the most are finding it impossible to get a lower interest rate on their credit cards when they call and ask.

“I tried calling my credit card company for a lower interest rate. I was told they couldn’t do that and there was nothing they could do to help!” William Brewer of Oklahoma says.

If you try to call your credit card companies and the customer representative seems unwilling or claims to be unable to assist you – don’t give up so easily. Ask to speak to a supervisor, manager, or someone who IS authorized to consider the request for a lower interest rate or modified repayment terms. Remain polite, but be firm – the customer service representatives are likely reading from a script.

People who are most likely able to reduce their interest rates are people who are less likely to need it – those who haven’t missed any credit card payments and have a better than average credit score. Credit card lenders have an elaborate sharing system through their computers. They know what your FICO credit score is, they know whether you’ve paid your other accounts on time or late, and they know how much debt you’re currently carrying. The riskier you are, the more you would benefit from a lower interest rate to help get yourself back on track but the less likely a credit card company is to lower your interest rate when requested.

As the number of delinquencies and defaulted agreements increase, lenders are getting tougher and are unwilling to work with people. Unfortunately, raising interest rates on people who are already struggling to make their payments, or being unwilling to work out modified payment agreements in times of financial need doesn’t make it any easier (or possible, even) for some customers to make their payments and it seems the lenders are just shooting themselves in the foot by making it impossible for people to make payments.

If you do attempt to call your credit card companies to request a lower interest rate or modified payment agreement – do not mention the fear of losing your job as the reason for the request. That puts you in an immediate high-risk situation. If you’ve been making your payments on time previously, simply remind the company you’ve been a good customer and would like to remain their customer but are seeking the best interest rates – if they can’t lower your rate, mention you might transfer your balance to a competitor who can.