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How to Negotiate Credit Card Interest Rates

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There are a lot of wrong ways to go about negotiating credit card interest rates. These strategies have a tendency to turn banks away. Alternatively, there are the right ways that work almost all of the time. Cardholders don’t have to beg to get a reduced interest rate, they simply need to be calm, polite, and truthful. They need to know what they want and how to convey it.

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All credit card holders receive new credit card offers in the mail frequently. This is the first step in the negotiation process. Collect all of these offers and save them for future reference. Some of these offers will treat cardholders to exceptional introductory offers such as 0% APR for the first 6 months, or only 9% APR at all times. These offers will give the cardholder bargaining chips when it is time to call the credit card company.

Once all the credit card offers and other information have been gathered, it is time to call and negotiate with your current credit card company. Cardholders should posses a great deal of knowledge in regards to the credit card company they are calling. This way, they are prepared to talk with a representative. This includes knowing what the company’s proposed interest rate is. While on the phone, be calm with the representative and listen to what they have to say. Do not threaten filing bankruptcy if they do not help you. Companies only want to keep long-term customers and will not be as likely to help if that’s the case.

After getting the basic information from the representative, ask for a supervisor. The representative will almost never have the authority to reduce the interest rate; they will just say that they cannot do that when asked most of the time. Supervisors treat callers kindly and are more likely to help. With the supervisor on the phone, remain calm and polite. Tell the supervisor that you have received offers in the mail with other credit cards that have lower interest rates. Inform them how you’ve enjoyed being a customer and that you would love to stay with them, however if they can’t give you a better rate, you will be forced to use one of the competitor’s offers.

Most of the time this technique works. Credit card companies do not wish to lose business, so they will offer a rate reduction or give you a 0% rate for a certain amount of time. They may just lower the rate 1%, but that is better than nothing.

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Last Updated on Wednesday, 05 August 2009 11:23  

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