How do I go about requesting an interest rate reduction with Citibank?

[missgamecock]

I have a citibank card that hit the universal default rate in Feb 07 because of an AMEX collection. Sent GW letter to Amex and they deleted the tradeline from all three credit bureaus. I would LOVE to get Citibank to lower my interest rate. How would you go about doing this? Do I just call them up and request it?

[andyaycw]

Just call them up, ask for a rate reduction, and if the CSR is unable to do it, request to speak to a supervisor. They'll probably look over your payment history with them, as well as other creditors on the credit reports. Based on that information they'll either grant or decline your request, and probably give you a reason why (if they do decline.) It would also be helpful to prepare some strong arguing points to try to persuade them why they should grant you a lower rate. Ie. something like "my payment history has been perfect"..."I've been a customer for X years".

Good luck.

[andyaycw]

Just to add on, you have to be persistent with your request. When I called them and asked them to lower my rate on the Driver's Edge card from somewhere around 17-18% (I can't remember exactly, but it was pretty high) they must have said "No" at least five times. The CSR I originally spoke to said I didn't qualify...then the supervisor I spoke to said "I can't lower it anymore", then "If I do it, I can only lower it by 0.5%"...when she finally caved in and asked me "What interest rate do you want"