How I Lowered My Apr!

BONJOEY

i have 2 cards with high apr,
my credit rating was not bad but i was only offered , barclaycard initial and capitalone classic, both of which have real high apr,

barclaycard 27.9apr, limit 1500 had 3 years
capitalone 29.9apr, limit 1500 had 1.5 years

i have a good overdraft of 2000 , so i paid both cards of with my overdraft , i owed roughly 980 on both, so my overdraft has apr of 15.9apr, nearly half my apr on cards , :eek:

i then phoned the card companies to say i wanted to close my accounts
they both asked why and i explained the apr was to high, barclays said they can lower my apr to 17.9 apr, and capital one said they will lower my apr to 15.9 apr, i was suprised
,
so even though my overdraft is nearly maxed, ( ill proberly up it a little)
i now have two cards with reasonable apr! :T and clear balances,

now i just have to pay my overdraft off!!!!

DJ1UK

Why don't you phone the card companies and ask to do a balance transfer to either of the cards - they may offer you a good rate.

DJ

BONJOEY

good idea, i thought my idea was a good one, and means i now have good apr, and anyone who has high apr on cards, could follow my example, or just phone the cc company and say you are thinking of closing or doing a bt and they might buckle!
thanks x

bargains83

Be careful with this, CC companies nearly always increase the APR when the bank of england increase the base rate but never ever decrease it when it is reduced. They also write to you saying they are increasing it with some feable excuse like changes in market climate.

So when you start spending they may just up it again.

Having said that I have just sent a secure message to capital one expressing my disgust at them charging me 29.9% APR for the last 4 years when Im meant to be on a 'Premier' card. I have a zero balance now and have as good as told them if they don't reduce it to something more reasonable I will close the account.

Barclaycard are probably the worst. I have had a card with them for slightly longer than I have capital one. That started at 14.9% and has crept up to 19.9% now!.

BONJOEY

let me know what they say bargain83 x

bargains83

BONJOEY wrote:

let me know what they say bargain83 x

Will do, I sent the secure message yesterday morning and haven't heard anything yet. I will post however as soon as I do get a response.

mancitychick

I have held my Barclaycard for nearly 10 years. When I rang to cancel last week, they offered to drop my apr from 19.9% to 12.9%.

BONJOEY

well done mancitychick!
theres no harm trying, your post proofs this x

bargains83

Just got a secure message back:

Thank you for contacting us about reducing the annual percentage rate on your Capital One account.

So that we can talk about this with you, please call us on 0800 952 5150 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday and 8.30am and 5pm on Saturday.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Customer Relations Manager

So looks like im going to have to phone them. BONJOEY, what kind of questions did capital one ask you when you contacted them?, did they re-ask about salary etc?. It seems like this is the way forward if you want to use a credit card for their intended purposes (i.e non tarting), looks like loyalty with CC companies does count for something after all!.

BONJOEY

no they didnt ask about salary, just why i was unhappy and that i was unhappy with apr, and they said to hold, and they looked in to my history, and said they could lower my apr to stay with them, as i said i wished to close my account, they didnt ask any questions, i did have to phone to disscuss this, not through secure message, hope this helps xx

good luck!