Is it possible to negotiate lower % rates for an exisiting balance?

Doublespresso

My friend has a Citi Platinum card with a substantial balance. He is always on time (at least min payment) and no adverse credit record, however I was really surprised that he is on more that 30% as standard rate. (isn't this extortionate?)
I told him to call them and threaten to move the balance elsewhere unless they lower the interest, he tried to do this but they wouldn't budge...

Any suggestions?

Troubled_Joe

Move the balance elsewhere!

IWantToBeFree_2

If they won't budge, he will just have to apply for another card elsewhere and transfer the balance. Nothing else he can do.

Milarky

It's great for them.. he's on 30% and the worst he can do is give them back their money (which they may have doubted they would ever see all repaid)

sarahs999

Definitely BT. Why would he want to stay with them when they're so extortionate and not interested in helping him?

ldn-100

I've negotiated lower rates before. You need to have a concrete competitors alternative to point to, so a named product with the non-promotional rate you want and you also need the sanction of genuinely closing the account if they do not comply. They will almost certainly offer a rate in the middle first, but if they want to retain you as a customer they will match the competitor. Be prepared for unexpected knock-on effects later such as the credit limit being reduced as they do not want to lend as much to you at the lower rate.

Doublespresso

Part of his probelm is that the current balance is quite substantial and near his limit, and he thinks that if he did a BT with a new provider they may not give him the same generous limit.. For this reason he's trying to negotiate a better rate without a BT.

Should he try a BT with a new provider nevertheless? Are tehre any consequences if he is refused or only given a much smaller limit? Besides wouldnt that increase his overall available lending?

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

IWantToBeFree_2

Another lender may not give him the whole limit, but even moving some of it to 0% could save money in the short term.

How high is the limit? Obviously Citi know what his limit is, and if it is as high as you are implying then they will also know he could struggle to get someone to match it, therefore they know they don't necessarily have to lower their rate to keep him as a customer.

Doublespresso

Thanks for the suggestions so far.
Someone has suggested that he should write to Citi and ask to see a copy of the CCA, the logic of this suggestion is that if they don't produce one in good time my friend will have ammunition to negotiate a more reasonable rate.

What do the experts think here? Also are there any wider implications to his credit ratings/record or even credit limit by requesting the CCA?

Comments from people in the know will be much appreciated.
Thanks

nickmack

Doublespresso wrote: »

What do the experts think here? Also are there any wider implications to his credit ratings/record or even credit limit by requesting the CCA?

Not sure where he'd be going with this other than hoping they can't produce the CCA and then ascerting that the debt isn't enforcable.

If so, I'd be very careful about going down this route. See this thread for discussion:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1205313

Kate48_2

Hi, another newbie here.
I read on MSE a few weeks ago that you can try to negotiate a lower interest rate. I saw that natwest go down as low as 1.9%.
We have mastercard and are almost to the limit and the money we pay each month just covers the interest.
What do we do to try to negotiate a much lower rate. It's 22% per year at the moment.
Thank you.