I’ve heard that you can call the credit card company’s to get rid of an annual fee or even lower interest rates, is this true?
will credit card company’s really get rid of annual fees by calling them?
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I guess it couldn’t hurt, but be warned, my mom and dad, who have very good credit heard that they could call and get their interest rates lowered did so and were told that they couldn’t be at this time. The very next month the rates jumped up like3-5%. Credit card companies are bloodsuckers just like the IRS. The government should really take a bigger part in the regulation of these companies. Ideally, get rid of ALL your credit cards. I wish I was able to take my own advise.
The banks have some latitude. They tend to write off annual fees if you haven’t used the card and the fee is the only outstanding charge. The other situation is if you’re charging a LOT of money on the card and paying regularly. A lot being 50k+ annually
you may be able to make an arrangement on interest rates, but that’s less common. They’ll try and steer you to a low interest card instead.
Try this: Call the company and tell them you want to cancel your credit card. When they ask you why, tell them it’s because they charge you an annual fee, so you’ve decided to go with another company that doesn’t charge you an annual fee. In many cases they’ll waive the annual fee, but if they say they’ll do that for you, tell them you want that promise in writing or else you’ll cancel the card.
It’s possible. Give them a call. Tell them that you have an offer from another credit card company for a lower interest rate or cheaper fees. Ask them if they are willing to reduce their fees to keep your business. You should be prepared to close the account if they say no. Otherwise, you have no bargaining power.
if you are in very good standing with the credit card company they will accommodate your your request for interest rate adjustment. I have done it with my cards this year.
Also I have been a long standing customer of years with them.
They don’t want to loose good customers.
The best way to get rid of credit card fees and interest is to cancel the cards and not play the credit card game.
If you play the credit card game you will end up losing at the game. Once you start losing its hard to get out of the game. High interest rates that they can raise for any reason. Outrageous late fees and over the limit fees. Not to mention identity theft.
Pay as you go and live on less than you make and you will win with money.
Debt free is the way to be!
It’s possible, it doesn’t hurt to ask. If there was an annual fee because of a high level of risk (low fico or other reasons), they may re-pull the credit report to asses the current situation. Make sure that the account is always current and not over limit or they won’t even consider it.
With my bank we don’t have annual fees on any current products, but use to have one on one type of card with better rewards than the other cards we offered. If a customer called and wanted their annual fee waived, we just offered them a different type of card with no fee.
As far as lowering the interest rate, it happens all the time. Call and ask for a lower rate. They’ll probably send you to a retention department who will see what if anything you qualify for immediately. My bank sends out a form letter that provides the conditions under which you may have a lower rate (no late payments or over limit in 12 mos, had the account for at least a year, and you don’t already have the lowest rate they offer). All banks differ, so the criteria will be different for each one. It may help if you’ve received solicitations from other banks to open those and be able to tell the company what their competitors are offering you. The worst they can say is no.