Save money on your CC... betcha didn't know!

[myguppy]

I hadn't even noticed this forum until now! yeesh!

Anyway, I used to work for Customer Service for a CC company, and there are a couple of tips I wanted to share. At first I wasn't sure if it was simply the CC I worked for, but I tried it on my own, and it's worked every time!

1. You can get your interest rate lowered if you've been a good customer! Call in up to once every 6 months [I used to write it in marker on the back of my card as a reminder] and ask nicely if they can look into lowering your interest rate. It feels awkward the first time, but after the first time on hold with a positive response [the first time mine was lowered 2%!], you'll have no hesitations doing it again. Over the period of a year and a half, my interest rate was dropped from 19.99 to 10.99%. I now have a CC interest rate lower than my mom's, and she's been told by different places [applying for mortgage, etc] that she's got incredible credit!

2. IF you have a yearly fee, consider a few things: changing to a new card or discussing it with your current CC company.... I can't tell you the number of times a customer [in good standing- this is always key! If you never pay on time and go over your limit they won't give you ANYTHING extra] called in to cancel their account because they were tired of the fee and had found a better card... only to have their yearly payment wiped out [either a one time thing or permanently... though some customers successfully got it credited back year after year!].

3. If you accidentally go A: over the limit [with a SINGLE purchase- not a day shopping spree!] or B: forget to make a payment on time, CALL your CC immediately!!! [as soon as you notice- even if the statement has arrived already] If you've been a good customer, explain why it happened and apologise, and offer to make a payment over the phone immediately [or make an online payment before calling and have the authorization number ready]. Not only will they remove the fee, but they'll make a note on the account that you took care of the problem!

4. This isn't so much for saving money on your CC, but on other future loans. IF [and only if] you will NOT use the extra credit, consider requesting a credit limit increase when you call in about lowering your interest rate. Having a higher limit [but NOT using it!] looks good on your credit.

5. If you're going to change CC, call around. Or, if you have multiple CC, consider this: call into your CC company and ask what kind of offer they'll give you to transfer your balance to their company. We always had the option of offering this to the customer, but the 'rates' greatly varied- a lot of them were 0% APR for the first 6 months [no back pay], and regular after that, some were 2.5% until it was paid off, etc. Might be worth combining your debts onto one card!

Hope this helps someone. I try to mention it where I can, because it can save a lot of money. I know that for the family members I've mentioned it to [who have actually remembered to follow through ] they've saved a bundle!

[Zonny]

Thanks!

The only bit that might be useful to us is #2. We pay the whole thing off each month, so interest rate doesn't matter at all to us.

We do pay an annual fee though - the benefits we get from the card (insurance coverage on rental cars, points that we can cash in for gift cards) far outweigh the amount we pay. But it would be too cool to make it go away altogether! Never even thought of that. I figured since we don't make any money for them at all, and actually COST them money to be their customers, they wouldn't be willing to help us save anything.

Z

[myguppy]

Thanks!

The only bit that might be useful to us is #2. We pay the whole thing off each month, so interest rate doesn't matter at all to us.

We do pay an annual fee though - the benefits we get from the card (insurance coverage on rental cars, points that we can cash in for gift cards) far outweigh the amount we pay. But it would be too cool to make it go away altogether! Never even thought of that. I figured since we don't make any money for them at all, and actually COST them money to be their customers, they wouldn't be willing to help us save anything.

Z

Glad I could help!
I did want to mention though, even if you don't carry a balance, I've been told many times that having a lower interest rate shows a higher trust in you, and makes your credit that much better... so if you'll be applying for credit for a mortgage, loan, carloan, etc in the future, it wouldn't be anything but beneficial to ask for your interest rate to be lowered! It'll take a minute or two out of your day to make the call, but that's about it
Just food for thought!
I [shamefully] am currently carrying a balance, but I started making the calls when I hardly used the card at all and kept the balance at zero!

[travelgeek]

We do pay an annual fee though - the benefits we get from the card (insurance coverage on rental cars, points that we can cash in for gift cards) far outweigh the amount we pay. But it would be too cool to make it go away altogether! Never even thought of that. I figured since we don't make any money for them at all, and actually COST them money to be their customers, they wouldn't be willing to help us save anything.

Heh.... credit card companies likely hate us, there's no interest to be made

Re: annual fee. I had the CIBC aerogold for years and they would never budge on the annual fee. If you threatened to cancel, they actually went ahead with the cancellation (which was okay with me since I switched to RBC avion).

[Woofy]

Heh.... credit card companies likely hate us, there's no interest to be made

Re: annual fee. I had the CIBC aerogold for years and they would never budge on the annual fee. If you threatened to cancel, they actually went ahead with the cancellation (which was okay with me since I switched to RBC avion).

Well, if you charge almost all your purchases on the card, the credit card companies still make some money off the merchant transaction fees... So, they don't really hate us altogether! It's just they don't make more money off people who pay off every month!