High interest rates and high balances, any ideas?

[Anonymous]

My wife has really high interest on all of her cards... 31.99%, 30%, 21.99% and they all have high balances too... she tried calling them to get rates lowered, but they said no way. I know if she was behind they would be willing to work with her more, but we want to buy a house in a year or so, so we don't need late payments on her credit history. we pay way more than the minimum but it still barely helps... the high balances are bringing her perviously high scores down now...

are there any other options to get rates lowered? tips on convincing the card companies to lower them, etc? she has never been late on a payment and had the cards for years...

[Anonymous]

Can you get approved for anything with a nice BT promotion?  I dont know if anyones got anything going with the current credit market, but it would be worth looking at. 

[Anonymous]

what is UTIL? If you can get a CLI which will improve util then apply for a 0% card it could help

[Cleanmachine]

The first thing to do is “STOP” using the cards.

 

It’s difficult to come up with a viable solution to your problem because of the lack of information.

 

These rates are extremely high. I would recommend that you obtain copies of your credit report and thoroughly examine them for derogatory information that may be the cause of the high interest rates.

 

Check with your local Bank or Credit Union to see if you qualify for a low interest loan to pay these cards off.

[Anonymous]

The cards are not being used now. That was the first decision we made to get this worked worked out. The last big thing any of them were used for was our wedding/honeymoon last fall. Like I said, we are now paying more than minimum payments on the highest interest, but even if she puts every single cent leftover after groceries and bills, she is looking at a pretty long payoff.

It wouldn't be so bad if the interest wasn't so high, her payments would actually mean something. We have a plan in place to be almost completely debt free (other than a car payment) but it would be nice if the companies would work with us at least by lowering interest, but all 3 of them told her no, even when she threatened to transfer the balance (which last time she tried, she couldn't do through our bank).

The balances are high too, and coincide with the interest rates... the 31.99% is the highest, a $9500 balance (paid down from 12k since a year ago so far!) the 30% is 5500 (down from 7k!). I know we would have a better chance in dealing with the card companies if the balances were lower, but that will still be a while.

We are going to do an inverse snowball (highest interest first, since that came out paying off fastest with the least amount of interest paid) but if we could just get the rate dropped even 10% it would save us a couple grand in payments over the course of the payoff!

She got a report a little over a year ago, and everything was fine. I will have her check again though.

[CodeMonkey]

One thing you may be able to do that I did when I was digging myself out of the hole is to pay off your first CC balance, and then give that company a call and get them to lower your purchase APR. I did that with Citi, and even though they were entirely unwilling to budge when they had their claws in me, once that balance read $0 and they knew I could very well tell them go to pound sand they actually lowered the APR first thing when they answered the phone, before I could even ask them to - I dropped from 28.99% all the way to 7.99%!

Once you get that done, ask if they'll give you a CLI and/or a low-interest BT offer. Explain to them what you're trying to accomplish - chances are they'll take the opportunity to earn more "business" from you (read: get you on the hook to them as opposed to their competitors).

This should make the remaining balances a heck of a lot easier to pay off.

It's definitely a long process, but you two can do it. And congrats on the recent wedding!

[cobaltnv]

Those interest rates are way above normal (even in this time of rate jacking). You mentioned that your wife had high credit scores. What are they? If they are even remotely reasonable she should qualify for some better interest rate credit cards. What companies are the cc with?

[Anonymous]

The scores were in the low 700s, but now they are mid 600s.

The highest is WaMu (was providian but was purchased by wamu last year i guess), the second highest is BOA and the lower of the 3 is a Gap Visa (can't remember what bank it is though).

She applied for a low interest BT card through Chase a few months ago and got denied. The reason was too high credit to debt ratio.

[Anonymous]

Wow, my default rates aren't even that high. When my FICO score was 653, my highest interest rate was 14.9% on Cap1. Now that I have a 713, my interest rate is 10.99%.

Pay your CC on time for 6 months and BofA will lower your interest rate. They won't offer so you will need to call and request a lower interest rate.

Good luck to both you and your wife.

Message Edited by tonnie39 on 12-03-2008 03:05 PM

[haulingthescoreup]

If there isn't a question of caring for young children or the elderly or disabled in your family, I'd suggest that one or the other or both of you go grab a part-time job. You might be able to get seasonal employment that will get you through the holiday season, although of course, with the economy, this isn't a given by any means.

The one solution that always works (if you can do it) is increased cash flow.