Has anyone ever asked their cc co. to lower their interest rate?

cantcope

Hi, I think the title speaks for itself.

I cant get a 0% card at the moment and wanted to know the best way to ask my existing card companies if they will reduce the interest.

Has anyone done this before? Did anyone have any success? i am quite nervous on the phone so want to be fully prepared before i do it.

Thanks

birdie53

Hi,

I tried it with MBNA recently, I said i was going to transfer my existing balance with them (currently at 15.9%) to another card, they said they could give me a better rate, but as it turned out what they were trying to do was offer me a loan for the balance at 6.9%APR!!! In the end they said they couldn't reduce my current APR, so I tranferred that balance anyway.

Littlemiss-lotsofdebt

I was successful with Barclaycard, they slashed it from 26ish APR to 12.9%, but I had same experience with Virgin (MBNA) as Birdie53, they refused and tried to get me to take out a loan.

Good luck - I think it depends on your account history largely, although mine was good with MBNA, so I just think they are tight lol

caroline1973lefty

'Fraid I was unsuccessful with capital one despite threatening to transfer my balance - they just kept offering to increase my credit limit, slightly missing the point I felt! Good luck though.

cantcope

Thanks everyone. Well i bit the bullet and called M&S. And they said NO. but they did offer to up my limit and give me a loan
will just have to wait a while and try for 0% in a few months i think

vwman_3

Barclaycard lowered my APR a couple of months ago, no problem at all.......

GlennTheBaker

I used to have an MBNA MasterCard and I told them I was thinking of applying for a competitor's card with a lower APR. The bloke on the phone said he could immediately drop my rate down to 9.9% APR from something like 15.9% APR.

CIMA_LOVER

vwman wrote:

Barclaycard lowered my APR a couple of months ago, no problem at all.......

Same here I dropped mine from 18.9% to 14.9%, but they still wont upgrade my card!!! :eek:

Bothered!

cantcope wrote:

Thanks everyone. Well i bit the bullet and called M&S. And they said NO. but they did offer to up my limit and give me a loan
will just have to wait a while and try for 0% in a few months i think

Do you have another card that is still 'live' but havent' used since paying off ? you could ring them to check what they have to offer, even if you can't transfer the whole amount.

Do you know why you ere turned down for 0% card, could you try a low life of balance one. ?

Mizz_Pink

Yes!

I phoned Sainsburys Bank today and told them i wanted to make a big purchase and wasnt sure whether to apply for a new 0% card or if they could reduce my apr, they did from 15.9% to 12.3% !!!

Every little helps!

nomoneytoday

Virgin/MBNA offered me 0.9% for 9 months. When I refused because of the 2% BT fee they offered to make it a max of £25 instead of £50