If i threaten to close account.

Rafter

I'm sure something will flash up on screen about how valuable a customer you are.

If you have things like PPI on your account and you have paid interest for a while rather than just taking the introductory offer then locking the card away then they will probably deal.

R.

trickster

creditcardking wrote:

I tried this with the Halifax, they said thats your account all closed, 2 seconds after I said I was wanting to close it. I then had to ring back to open the account again and pretend I had made a mistake by closing it.

Now, thats a warning.

Don't try this tactic if you can't take the risk of your account being closed. It would probably be a new application to reopen an account, therefore another credit search.

The_Boss

Last year I closed accounts with MBNA, Egg, NatWest, Capital One, Lloyds TSB and Barclaycard.

Not one offered me anything to stay. Capital One got arsey with me and didnt want me to close down but didnt want to offer me anything. NatWest just asked if I was sure since I had 7 years of history with them.

I have never missed a payment and managed all my accounts well. I had the MBNA one since 2002, Egg since 2001, NatWest since 1997/1998, Barclaycard, Lloyds TSV and Capital One since 2004.

mary

Did you write or ring just after you had paid it all off?

towseriv

Really strange.

I tried a different approach and I called simply asking for a lower rate. I was told I would be put through to "the lady that can help" A woman then said "I understand you want to cancel your card sir" I NEVER SAID THAT. She then caught me on the hop by asking what rate I wanted but that there was no way she could (or would) do 0% I explained I didnt want 0% just a cheaper balance something lower than the 19.9% I was paying she says sure no problems, have 13.9% for being a loyal customer (since 2002) Also would you like me to make the card gold?, Whats that mean I asked?, Well nothing really its jsut something we offer to some people rather than a blue one. Everything is the same just gold.
I could not help but laugh at that say thanks for your help.

galileo

mary wrote:

I have had probably 8/9 cards over the last 1-2 years, have always paid them off with savings, then phoned up to cancel the cards, but never have had a repeat of 0%. They never make any money out of me, but of course they won't know if they will in the future. I was offered a rate of maybe 3.9% or something similar once, but I said I was only interested in a repeat of 0%, with tongue in cheek. I'm always polite and jovial about my requests, don't go in all guns blazing. I do get the impression that other folk get repeats, but don't honestly know what if anything I'm doing wrong

It's worth knowing that when I called up to cancel my M+S card just under a year ago (the 0% period had expired) they offered me another 6 months 0%.

Andybez38

:j Been contacted this morning after i e mailed complaining about the 19.9% Apr, and threatening to close my account. They have now lowered it to 14.9% Apr. Looks like i might hang on to it for a while longer or should i push them for a little more?. :rolleyes:

mary

Bluff it, and tell them you can get a better rate elsewhere and see what happens.

The_Boss

mary wrote:

Did you write or ring just after you had paid it all off?

If you are referring to my post, I rang them all up and each card had a zero balance on it. Capital One and Lloyds TSB had just been paid off. The others had a zero balance for quite a while. But still, I wasnt offered anything.

Kal

I tried ringng Barclaycard but they were completely disinterested. Said that they had just re-assessed their interest rates and that they were fair plus added (and actually said) "why should we - you have had 6 late payments inthe last 12 months". For me cancelling isnt an option as I cant get another card so will just have to suffer it!

It is an added incentive to save to pay them off and have great fun in cutting up the card.