Lowering Credit Cards Interest Rate

[bradykp]

Originally Posted by Anon123

Has anyone on this forum been successful in lower your credit cards interest rate? or even negotiate the minimum monthly payments? If so, please share your story.

I'm requesting on behalf for my mother.
She has a total of 7 credit cards, most of the interest rates are around 25%.
She has always paid on time and currently has good credit, but cannot even make sure minimum payments without taking money from one card to pay the other.

call the credit card company and ask for a rate reduction. that's all you can do. but it usually only gets you a few points at most.

you may have to get a personal loan or a credit card balance transfer for her if she is at 25% that's insane! note - rewards cards often have higher i-rates. i.e., LLBean Visa is like 15% where a normal Barclays Visa would be maybe 12%. So if she has rewards cards, focus on eliminating those first! she's obviously not benefiting from the rewards!

[bradykp]

Originally Posted by Anon123

Would consolidating all 7 cards require you to get a higher credit limit on the card your consolidating too?

For example.
7 Card, each card with $10K balance.
Card 1 to consolidate, but is only at a $10K balance, card 1 would have to up the limit to 70K? Have you done this? I'm doubtful that this would work, or am I totally off?

you're not going to get approval for a huge increase in credit unless you have outstanding credit and outstanding income.

if you've been a customer for a while, you can often ask for a 1-2k increase and they'll do it without verifying credit. but - who knows these days with banks scrambling to make every cent possible!

[bradykp]

Originally Posted by kathys

I have two Chase cards. I have no balance on them.I use them on occassion.When I do use them, I pay them off. Have had them for quite awhile. In fact every time I go into the bank, they offer me another one. The last one they offered had 10,000 bonus points. They denied me that one, for lack of credit history?? I think they meant I was'nt using it enough. I have no debt and never had. The interest rates for the two Chase cards are 18.25% and 13.75% They went up awhile back for whatever reason. The limits on them are 10,000 and 15,000. A few years ago, my interest was around 8%. What I am wondering is my interest rate average?

many banks raised i-rates and decreased limits over the past 3 years in the down economy to limit their risk exposure. you have "inactive" cards in their eyes, so they prob bumped your rates.

you should charge a few bucks on the cards each month and pay it off, just to show some activity. this will help improve your "history" and profile, and reduce interest rates over time.

if you call and ask, they'll probably lower your rate. especially if you tell them you'd like to start using it more, but not at that rate. or if you tell them you're considering closing it.

[Spraynard Kruger]

Originally Posted by Boompa

A National Usury LAW setting the maximum anyone can charge

Ugh, another request for Government to come in and save consumers from themselves. They just stuck it to the card companies and it hasn't changed a thing.

Where is the barf icon! (take this comment with a grain of salt, please)

[Spraynard Kruger]

Originally Posted by Anon123

Has anyone on this forum been successful in lower your credit cards interest rate? or even negotiate the minimum monthly payments? If so, please share your story.

I'm requesting on behalf for my mother.
She has a total of 7 credit cards, most of the interest rates are around 25%.
She has always paid on time and currently has good credit, but cannot even make sure minimum payments without taking money from one card to pay the other.

This question cannot be adequately answered without knowing how much income she has in relation to her debt. Can she find a way to make more money (I assume she is most likely older and perhaps not working).

She could attempt to park some of those cards with a credit union, pending her credit rating is as good as you say it is. Some credit unions have interest rates as low as 7.9% (that I know of).

Consolidating the credit cards and taking the loan against the house (if there is a house) is foolish. Thats not good advice.

Bankruptcy is expensive and often times not necessary; I think its bad advice even if she owes 70K. Now, if your mother doesnt have the income needed to pay down the debts one by one, she can take the hit for a few months on the most expensive balances and sock away cash for 90 days. When they call to collect, she can offer a settlement for about 15-25 cents on the dollar. You don't need an expensive bankruptcy attorney to do that. Just make sure that if this is the only route available that she gets everything in writing.

Don't delay the inevitable. It's important for her peace of mind this is dealt with.

[joey2000]

Originally Posted by danieloneil01

Doubtful her credit is good. My advice would be to change her life style. Cut them all up and close them out if she has no self control.

Does she own a home? Can she get a loan to pay them off?

She can try and see if they will lower the interest rate but good luck with that. And DO NOT use a credit consulting firm like the ones u see on tv.

Good luck and try to call or email Dave Ramsey with all info.

Not sure about Ramsey but generally a great post. Normally I would keep one open but given her apparent lack of discipline, getting rid of them all is probably best.