While it’s usually best to pay off your entire credit card bill at once, sometimes it’s necessary to pay off your debts a little at a time. Since credit card companies offer you what amounts to loans, they charge interest for allowing you to use their services. Interest is only charged when you don’t pay your entire balance at the end of each month. If you think that you won’t be paying your entire balance off each month or you already have a significant amount of debt on your cards, turn to Cash Factory USA to learn how to lower credit card interest rates.
1. Shop Around
This option is best for people who don’t have a credit card yet or who only have one and are looking into opening another one. Each credit card company and type of credit card offers different perks. Some offer more cashback with a trade-off of higher interest rates, while others offer super-low interest rates, but you have to pay account maintenance fees. Explore the credit cards for which you qualify and compare rates.
If you already have several cards and a large amount of debt, you should also shop around to do some research on what current interest rates are for the most popular cards. You can compare these rates to yours and prepare yourself for negotiating a lower credit card interest rate and reaching your long-term goals.
2. Ask the Company
The easiest answer to the question of how to lower your credit card interest rates is simply to ask! Call the customer service line and ask to speak to someone about lowering your rates. You have the right and an obligation to yourself to do so. Most companies are prepared for this question and won’t turn you down. Talk to the representative about other rates for similar cards and request the same. You may get denied, but you still have options. You can call back to speak with a different representative or ask to speak with a manager. A rejection could simply be an issue of the person on the line with you. You can also ask about any short-term promotional rates that could help you pay your debt down faster.
Make it clear that you’re interested in staying with this company and that your balances will be paid reliably each month.
3. Reliable Payments
Before you wrestle with the question of how to lower your credit card interest rates, you should make yourself into an outstanding and reliable customer. Credit card companies are more likely to make allowances for you if you’ve shown yourself to be a dependable long-term customer. Before you call to ask about negotiating a lower credit card interest rate, make sure you have a solid history of payments in place.
4. Change Your Card
If your company absolutely refuses to work with you on how to lower your credit card interest rates, it may be time to move on to a different credit card option. When all your debt is paid off, you can simply close the account and move on. For those that still have a large amount of money owed, you can look into transferring your balance to a different account (which usually has a fee attached). Since many credit card companies offer promotional 0% APR for new accounts, you can transfer your outstanding balance for a small fee to a new card and have a short amount of time in which to pay off more of your debt with no interest.
There is also the option of consolidating your debt with a third party company. These companies take all your debt and bundle it together, usually at a lower interest rate than you currently have.
Help From Cash Factory USA
Whether you’re trying to build a retirement account, pay off student loans, or learn about stock portfolios, our team is here to help. Explore our blog today for answers to your most important financial questions like how to lower your credit card interest rates.