Drop your Credit Card interest rate!

[my sons father]

First off, thanks to all the people who post here. Some of it I can't use, but I did take advantage of the Sony camera deal at Office Max, and some Dell deals, and probably some I don't recall right now.

Now to the "Hot Deal". This works if you have credit cards with high interest rate. Capitol One asked me "what's in my wallet?", and when I looked, I found their fingers! Dell was right next to them. So I decided to have extra taxes taken out of my paycheck each week, and with my income tax return, I was going to pay them off. I also wanted to buy a big-screen tv. Well, in my haste, I paid off Dell, paid off my smaller Capitol One card, and then bought a tv. After I had paid for the tv, and the payment to Capitol One had cleared, I called Capitol One and asked to close my account. I gave the reason as the interest rate was too high. Seeing that I didn't have a balance anymore, they offered to lower my interest rate to keep me as a customer. I told them to close it anyway. Later, as I thought about this whole chain of events, I realized I could have paid off the Capitol One card, asked to close it, and accepted the lower interest rate. I would then use the card to buy my tv. The cash I used to by the tv then could have gone to paying off another high interest rate credit card! That could have saved me $$$ over the next year!

Sadly, I missed this chance, but if you have a high interest credit card you might be able to take advantage of this. It could even work if someone you know is buying a big ticket item, and they trust you enough to borrow you the cash, and let you use your credit card to buy what they wanted after you got the interest rate down. Also, try to do what I did and have extra taxes taken out of your weekly paycheck so you can get a bigger tax return and climb out of debt faster. $20 extra bucks each week will get you another $1000 at the end of the year!

Now if some of you don't agree that this should be posted here, I'm sorry, but I wanted to benefit the people who have helped me, and I hope I do. Thanks again!

 

[oRdchaos]

So you've set it up for the government to take more of your money up front and give it back to you come tax time? i.e. They're sitting on your money earning interest, etc. on it while you can't use it?

 

[gonzo2k]

WOW
Can a stream of consciousness thread re: debt = a stream of unconsciousness?

 

[imported_tkkidd]

if you been good standing with your CC ( never late, carry small balance...)

Just call them and say " your competitor offer me BLAH BLAH BLAH. Match me or i'm transfering. "

or

" This interest si too high my other card apr is .... 7.99 9.99fixed and ( low apr cards.) ... before i close this account i was wondring if you would lower the apr."


CC rate varies my friends... so does cable bills, rent,.. anything else.


I learned this from a book, David bach's "Automatic Millionaire" it s a great book


Good luck.


(for me my 17.99% card went down to 9.99)

 

[AnyMal]

mind boggling

 

[Nick5324]

I don't want to start an e-fight, but I will say your "financial advice" (rather I agree with it or not) isn't really a "hot deal".

As for the tax thing, I would rather not have additional funds withheld from my check. Instead, (using your example of $20/week) I'll deposit $40 a check into an account that earns interest (anything is better than 0, the rate the IRS would pay me).

As for lowering the rate on a CC, I would say this is a big YMMV, as everyone has different credit histories and CC companies. With that said, I don't think many here will be shocked to learn a CC company will lower your APR when you threaten to close your account.

Then again, your thread is well intended, which is better than a lot of things posted here. :beer:

 

[usernamemax20charact]

Hot.
















































Not. :thumbsdown:

 

[danplaysbass]

You don't even have to "threaten" to close your account. I emailed Citibank just yesterday and asked if they would lower my rate. They did.

Creditors would rather you pay off your debt at a lower interest rate than to have you default and they get nothing.

 

[imported_burningrave101]

I need to contact Citi and see about them lowering mine on my Shell Mastercard. Its the primary card i use for purchases because its 5% cashback on gas and 1% cashback on everything else and its an actual cashback thats applied to my account each month instead of just reward points like alot of the others. I havn't had the card that long but my current APR is 15.24%.

 

[sinucus]

not to sh*t in your sandbox but have you ever thought of just *not* buying things you can't afford? I have never carried a balance forward on my credit card once in the 12 years that I've had 3. Yes it sucks not buying things you want, but if I don't have the cash in my bank account, I don't buy it. People need to learn that a "credit" card is not a quick preapproved loan. It's just a peice of plastic that replaces "cash" on hand. Once you learn that lesson you will never again pay tens of thousands of dollars in "interest." You'll be able to better afford those big ticket items if you'd learn to stop throwing your money away. Just my $.02 (earning interest in my savings account).

 

[McPhreak]

Originally posted by: sinucus
not to sh*t in your sandbox but have you ever thought of just *not* buying things you can't afford? I have never carried a balance forward on my credit card once in the 12 years that I've had 3. Yes it sucks not buying things you want, but if I don't have the cash in my bank account, I don't buy it. People need to learn that a "credit" card is not a quick preapproved loan. It's just a peice of plastic that replaces "cash" on hand. Once you learn that lesson you will never again pay tens of thousands of dollars in "interest." You'll be able to better afford those big ticket items if you'd learn to stop throwing your money away. Just my $.02 (earning interest in my savings account).

I disagree to some point. For big ticket items, a credit card is a great way to purchase something provided you can make the steady payments to pay the item off. When I purchased my house, I needed a washer and dryer and credit card was the only way to purchase it at the time since buying the house made me broke. 12 months later, I finished paying off my appliances and have no regret about financing the purchase.

 

[Eddieo]

Originally posted by: McPhreak

Originally posted by: sinucus
not to sh*t in your sandbox but have you ever thought of just *not* buying things you can't afford? I have never carried a balance forward on my credit card once in the 12 years that I've had 3. Yes it sucks not buying things you want, but if I don't have the cash in my bank account, I don't buy it. People need to learn that a "credit" card is not a quick preapproved loan. It's just a peice of plastic that replaces "cash" on hand. Once you learn that lesson you will never again pay tens of thousands of dollars in "interest." You'll be able to better afford those big ticket items if you'd learn to stop throwing your money away. Just my $.02 (earning interest in my savings account).

I disagree to some point. For big ticket items, a credit card is a great way to purchase something provided you can make the steady payments to pay the item off. When I purchased my house, I needed a washer and dryer and credit card was the only way to purchase it at the time since buying the house made me broke. 12 months later, I finished paying off my appliances and have no regret about financing the purchase.

When I got my house I went to the laundrymat for 1 year, saved up money and paid cash (check) for a nice big front loader. Still debt free. Laundrymat is more expensive but did not want to be house and credit debt. With the interest, either would probably be close but if I lost my job and had a washer and dryer on credit=bad.

 

[codeyf]

Originally posted by: Eddieo

Originally posted by: McPhreak

Originally posted by: sinucus
not to sh*t in your sandbox but have you ever thought of just *not* buying things you can't afford? I have never carried a balance forward on my credit card once in the 12 years that I've had 3. Yes it sucks not buying things you want, but if I don't have the cash in my bank account, I don't buy it. People need to learn that a "credit" card is not a quick preapproved loan. It's just a peice of plastic that replaces "cash" on hand. Once you learn that lesson you will never again pay tens of thousands of dollars in "interest." You'll be able to better afford those big ticket items if you'd learn to stop throwing your money away. Just my $.02 (earning interest in my savings account).

I disagree to some point. For big ticket items, a credit card is a great way to purchase something provided you can make the steady payments to pay the item off. When I purchased my house, I needed a washer and dryer and credit card was the only way to purchase it at the time since buying the house made me broke. 12 months later, I finished paying off my appliances and have no regret about financing the purchase.

When I got my house I went to the laundrymat for 1 year, saved up money and paid cash (check) for a nice big front loader. Still debt free. Laundrymat is more expensive but did not want to be house and credit debt. With the interest, either would probably be close but if I lost my job and had a washer and dryer on credit=bad.

I guess I just don't know why another $500-1000 in debt is such a big deal when you've just bought a house. You're already 5 if not 6 figures in debt at that point. Washer/Dryer is chump change, might as well enjoy not having to go to the laundramat.

 

[McPhreak]

Originally posted by: Eddieo

Originally posted by: McPhreak

Originally posted by: sinucus
not to sh*t in your sandbox but have you ever thought of just *not* buying things you can't afford? I have never carried a balance forward on my credit card once in the 12 years that I've had 3. Yes it sucks not buying things you want, but if I don't have the cash in my bank account, I don't buy it. People need to learn that a "credit" card is not a quick preapproved loan. It's just a peice of plastic that replaces "cash" on hand. Once you learn that lesson you will never again pay tens of thousands of dollars in "interest." You'll be able to better afford those big ticket items if you'd learn to stop throwing your money away. Just my $.02 (earning interest in my savings account).

I disagree to some point. For big ticket items, a credit card is a great way to purchase something provided you can make the steady payments to pay the item off. When I purchased my house, I needed a washer and dryer and credit card was the only way to purchase it at the time since buying the house made me broke. 12 months later, I finished paying off my appliances and have no regret about financing the purchase.

When I got my house I went to the laundrymat for 1 year, saved up money and paid cash (check) for a nice big front loader. Still debt free. Laundrymat is more expensive but did not want to be house and credit debt. With the interest, either would probably be close but if I lost my job and had a washer and dryer on credit=bad.

I think if you just bought a house and then lost your job, the washer and dryer would be the last thing on your mind...

But to each their own. I'm just trying to argue that the use of credit cards as "cash advances" is not entirely evil for those responsible enough to pay back the loan. I'm not saying this is right for everyone.