LexChoice Finance

Financial News and Information

Get A Lower Credit Card Interest Rate, Just Ask!

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If your credit card interest rates are getting out hand, keep reading.

Credit Card companies can raise your interest rate for about any reason they can come up with. Can you remember the last time a Credit Card company sent you a letter or email telling you your interest rate has been lowered? If you are like most Americans, probably never. However, don’t lose hope. It is possible to get a lower interest rate and fees.

If you take some initiative and follow some simple steps you could lover your interest rates by 5%, 10% or even 15%! Sometimes it’s as easy as making a phone call. Imagine how much money that would save you each month!

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Ask for credit card rate reductions

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The obvious goal in life is to be debt free. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to own nobody anything? You could just pay cash for anything you needed and not have to worry about how much interest you were going to pay or how long it will take you to pay back the bank. However, statistics will tell you that may of us owe somebody something. The worst people to owe are credit card companies.

Credit cards are convenient but often carry huge monthly interest rates. If you have credit card debt you should consider calling them and asking for a rate reduction. With so many banks and lending companies eager to lend money there is probably a better deal to be found. A simple call to your current credit card company will probably net you a few percentage points on your APR. If you have a $5,000 balance, even a 3% rate reduction saves you $150 a year.!

You probably won’t get an instant reduction with just a simple call. You will probably have to talk to a supervisor and possibly even threaten to take your business elsewhere. However, with a little persuasion you’ll probably get what you want, especially if you’ve always paid your monthly credit card bill on time and have a decent credit score.

Before you file for bankrupcy think about debt settlement

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Thinking about filing for bankruptcy? I know it may sound like the easiest thing to do and in certain circumstances it may be the only option, but before you give up all hope maybe you should try some type of debt settlement program.

There are thousands of different agencies who are willing to help you settle your debts with your creditors. I’m sure there just as many who are only interested in your money and not at all in actually helping you, but you don’t even have to use a third party to settle you debt.

The term debt settlement simply means negotiating with your creditors to reduce the overall balance of your debt. Debt settlement only works with credit card debt and unfortunately, most creditors won’t negotiate until you’ve stopped making payments on the debt and have racked up hundreds or thousands of dollars in interest.

When you declare bankruptcy you may be hurting hundreds of other people, not just yourself. The money you owe the companies goes to other peoples salaries and helps provide income for many families. Before you make the decision to declare bankruptcy please consider a debt settlement program or at least contact your credit card companies and try to settle the debt by yourself. Many times you can save thousands of dollars with just a phone call.

Responsible Credit Card Users Punished

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If you haven’t already herd there are big changes in store for credit card holders. Congress passed a bill on Wednesday that will force credit cards to make major changes to the way they do business. The major change is that credit card companies now have to limit sudden hikes in interest rates.

Sure high interest rates have forced millions of Americans deeper into debt, but who is really at fault? Can you blame the credit card companies for wanting to make more money? Or can you blame the consumer for not being responsible with their spending?

No matter what, the credit card companies are going to come up with a different strategy to make money. After all the credit card companies have bills and salaries to pay too. Who is most likely going to pick up the bill? The responsible credit car users.

In order to increase profits most credit cards companies will start charging annual fees to use their services. They will also reduce or even drop rewards programs.

We personally use a credit card almost everyday. We pay many bills with the cards and about 95% of our spending is done with our credit card. We pay off the bill every month on time to take advantage of the rewards. I can only think of one time where we were late paying a bill so over the past 7 years we are well ahead of the game. Sounds like those days may be over.

If  credit card companies start charging annual fees and drop rewards programs we will switch back to cash or start using our debit card to pay for everything. Credit cards are such a convenient way of paying for things and can be rewarding if used responsibly, it’s sad to hear this news!

Check credit card statements

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I’m not usually one to pay close attention to details, but after today I am going to attempt to keep a closer eye on my credit card statements. During my lunch break today I thought I would check the balance on our credit card statement. We use a rewards credit card to pay all our bills and spending throughout the month. We always pay the bill on time, avoiding late charges, and collecting the rewards bonuses from spending.

I clicked the view recent transactions and noticed that there was a double charge on the account for a local fast food restaurant. There was a charge for $7.94 on the account twice. Since it was an all you can eat pizza buffet I know I didn’t eat there twice in the same day!

I always glance down the credit card statement each month just to analize where we spent our money, but I guess I’ve never really paid close attention. Obviously this happens often however, because under the contact section of the credit card companies website is an entire section dedicated to this specific problem.

Now that I’m aware of the problem I will always double check each line of the credit card statement to ensure I’ve not been double charged. A few extra minutes of my time could save me some money!