Personal Finance

Negotiating credit card interest rate

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  • Jul 2nd, 2014 6:51 pm
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Member
Mar 25, 2010
239 posts
44 upvotes

Negotiating credit card interest rate

I'm just wondering, is it possible to negociate a lower interest rate on credit cards issued by banks, if you've been a client for a while? I have a VISA with Laurentian, which is my first card, but the interest rate Is pretty high I find. I'm considering transfering my balance to my other card with a lower rate, but was wondering first if it's possible to negotiate the rate. If so, what are your tricks? I've always paid on time, I don't recall ever being late on a paymenr, and twice a year I clear my balance back to 0. I'm usually at about 60-80% in terms of limit usage, because I pay school with the card. Not sure if that helps.
12 replies
Moderator
May 28, 2012
12484 posts
5278 upvotes
Saskatoon
As far as I know, you can't negotiate rates for credit cards, what you can do is get credit cards with lower rates. If you keep a balance, then for sure look for a card with the lowest rate possible. I pay my balance in full everything month so the interest rate doesn't really affect me.
Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Mar 31, 2007
5069 posts
3306 upvotes
Had my MBNA smartcash card lowered to 10% I believe (could be 14%) from 19.99% awhile ago.
All I did was call in, the guy said no problem and that the best he could offer me was _____.

In any case, I say call in and give it a try. Be honest that you're considering a swap + tenure, etc and show that you've actually done your homework by mentioning the other interest rate.
Member
Mar 31, 2013
396 posts
84 upvotes
Toronto
Call in and ask because some lenders can lower rates. If they won't lower, switch as soon as you can the lowest interest rate card or LOC you can find (I think MBNA has a low interest one?). Not paying off your card each month makes everything very expensive.
Newbie
Dec 25, 2014
91 posts
4 upvotes
GTA
credit cards are not meant to carry a balance unless you have a 0% balance transfer promotional offer. in every other case youre better off with LOC or sometimes even loan. there are some low interest ones though if your really interested, one is National bank, another is mbna 9.99% (i recommend this one if you must carry balance), td prime + some bogus number usually 12%.... really look into 0% or like 1-4% "introductory" interest/balance transfer rates, and "CHURN" these cards, meaning use them till the promo period ends, then cancel and reapply for new of same
Sr. Member
Sep 24, 2010
917 posts
65 upvotes
Toronto
MBNA TrueLine has about 9% interest rates. Also RBC has a low interest rate card, I believe around the same rate.

As mentioned above, your best bet is to get an MBNA 0% (1% transfer fee) offer and not worry about the interest for 12 months.
Deal Fanatic
Aug 29, 2006
7750 posts
1635 upvotes
That is not true, almost every financial help article say that is the first thing you do is to call the cc company and try to get a lower interest rate.

Arm yourself with a bit of information like what some of the lower interest card are doing and ask if the could match.

Worst they say is no but often they want to keep you as a client.
The Devil made me buy it - RFD. :twisted:
Deal Expert
User avatar
Aug 18, 2005
21223 posts
5939 upvotes
Burlington-Hamilton
1. If you are carrying a balance, you're doing it wrong. Pay off your balance. Trying to lower the rate should only be secondary to the approach of always paying off your balance.

2. If you get other pre-authorized 0% balance transfer offers in the mail, etc, it doesn't hurt to phone up your CC's bank and ask them to match the 0% BT before you do the balance transfer.
- casual gastronomist -
Jr. Member
May 6, 2008
108 posts
57 upvotes
YYZ
CC rates are technically not negotiable .... but you can always switch your CC type.
Every Bank has a low rate CC option ... the Bank would rather switch you to a lower rate than loose you to the competition
Deal Addict
Aug 4, 2006
3428 posts
2377 upvotes
Toronto
Get a line of credit and transfer the balance. Pay it off diligently. Get rid of your credit card and use cash. You will be debt free very quickly
Member
Mar 25, 2010
239 posts
44 upvotes
Thanks for the tips here. I know that in a perfect world, your credit card should never carry a balance. Unfortunately, we live in a world where that is sometimes hard to achieve. I actually have 5k saved up, which is peanuts to some of you, but as a student working and saving hard, that's a lot to me. I could technically pay off my debt (about 1500), but I want to force myself to manage my money well by still saving up and reimbursing my cards.

Most of my debt isn't even actually my debt. Been helping my family a lot with bills lately, so this debt was unexpected and I couldn't budget for it beforehand.

I think i'll go for a line of credit. What is something I can expect to pay in terms of interest?
Member
Mar 31, 2013
396 posts
84 upvotes
Toronto
Trident wrote: Thanks for the tips here. I know that in a perfect world, your credit card should never carry a balance. Unfortunately, we live in a world where that is sometimes hard to achieve. I actually have 5k saved up, which is peanuts to some of you, but as a student working and saving hard, that's a lot to me. I could technically pay off my debt (about 1500), but I want to force myself to manage my money well by still saving up and reimbursing my cards.
If you have more money in your bank account than your credit card balance, pay it off immediately! Paying off your credit card balances in full every month is part of managing money well. It doesn't sound like it is that hard to achieve for you because $5k > $1.5k. Having money sit in your account is essentially like having a -20% interest rate.

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