Getting Penalty APR Lowered

[shane82388]

I've been paying down my Capital One card that was way over the limit and now im a good ways under and all is well and getting better.

So long story short, hit a fairly big rough patch a while back, credit went to hell, but is recovering steadily. I didnt have much history before that to begin with as im only 22 and have credit for just a few years. I've been making every payment on time since October of 2009. This over a year by my calculation, and as far as I know, Capital One is supposed to revert you back to your normal interest rate after 6 months of on time payments...yet im still paying 29.40% interest.

Is this possibly because I was over the limit, yet making the payments on time?

Or is it just something I need to request be adjusted?

[Travis-84]

I pulled the terms and conditions from one cap 1 credit card, here is what it says

"29.4%.
This APR will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.
This APR may be applied to your account if you make a late payment.
How Long Will the Penalty APR Apply?: If APRs are increased for a payment that is more than 60 days late, the Penalty APR will apply indefinitely unless you make the next six consecutive minimum payments on time following the rate increase."

So it sounds like if you miss the payment after the rate increase (IE 90 days late), then you lost your chance to revert back to the original rate.  I would give them a call and ask why your rate is so high, and when it will change.  It cerainly doesn't hurt to ask them if they can lower that rate, but they might hard to do a hard inquiry (Maybe on all 3 reports).  Do you know what your FICO score is?  If the balance is small enough, I would just work on paying it down as fast as possible.  If its large, and they won't decrease the rate, I would do a balance transfer to another credit card.