How to Lower the Interest Rate on Your Credit Card

Interest rates on most credit cards are high enough!  But that doesn’t stop credit card companies from raising the interest rates on cards.  Many times companies will dramatically increase your interest rates (from 12% to 28%, for example).  Yes, it’s outrageous, but that’s what’s happening to millions of people across the country.  Imagine that one month your credit card bill says your interest rate is 10% and then the next month, all of a sudden the interest rate is now 25%!  Obviously your monthly payments, if you have credit card debt, will now skyrocket.  This is why you as the consumer need to be aware of these unexpected interest rate hikes.  For sure, you should keep track of the interest rates on all of your credit cards every time you receive a bill (if you have credit card debt) or a regular statement from the credit card company.  The interest rate on the card should be stated on the bill/statement at that time.  If you notice that the interest rate climbs so high, that it more than doubles, you might want to:

1.  Call the Credit Card Company – If you have had a certain credit card for several years, and you are a “loyal customer” and the credit card company increases your interest rate from 10% to 25%, for example, you should contact the credit card company and simply say that you’ve been a loyal customer and it is unfair and unethical for the company to double your interest rate.  By contacting the credit card company, the company may be willing to negotiate with you on a lower interest rate.

2.  Take Advantage of Balance Transfers – This is where you would open up a new credit card and transfer the remaining balance from another credit card to this new balance transfer card.  The benefit is that balance transfer cards usually have interest rates at either 0% or very close to 0% (like 1-3%).  For more information on balance transfers, see the HelpSaveMyDollars.com section on Credit Cards.  Be careful of some balance transfer cards since many have high fees!

You should also be aware of the new credit card laws, which went into effect on February 22, 2010.

Tags: balance transfer cards, balance transfers, benefit, credit card bill, credit card companies, credit card company, credit card debt, credit card laws, Credit Cards, interest rate hikes, interest rates, loyal customer, new balance, saving money, unexpected interest

This entry was posted on May 28, 2010 at 9:53 pm and is filed under Credit Cards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.