topic Re: Got APR lowered on Forward. in Credit Cards

Got APR lowered on Forward.

icyhot — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 16:38:43 GMT

Chatted with Citi and got it down from 16.99 to 14.99. It's now my lowest APR and CSP is the next lowest (15.99). They said when my AAdvantage hits 6 months chat with them again. I need to get the AAdvantage, Venture, and both Amexes down, though I don't really carry balances on those. BofA at 18.99 is pretty high too, and I normally do carry balances

Re: Got APR lowered on Forward.

kdm31091 — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 17:42:37 GMT

Congrats. Carrying a balance normally on an 18.99 percent card though? Ouch. You need to apply for a low APR no rewards card if youre regularly going to carry balances IMO. The interest is eating up any rewards you get anyway.

Or you need to evaluate your spend vs income. If you dont spend more than you can afford, you wont have balances to carry

Re: Got APR lowered on Forward.

jsucool76 — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 19:45:01 GMT

or get a low Apr card from a CU or the barclaycard ring. the points you're earning definitely don't justify the 18.99% Apr when you could be paying 8% or less

Re: Got APR lowered on Forward.

jsucool76 — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 19:48:15 GMT

better yet, spend on all your rewards cards and then BT to a barclaycard ring. there's no bt fee. so you earn points AND get a lower Apr.

Re: Got APR lowered on Forward.

kdm31091 — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 19:52:17 GMT

@jsucool76 wrote:
better yet, spend on all your rewards cards and then BT to a barclaycard ring. there's no bt fee. so you earn points AND get a lower Apr.

Either way OP needs to do something. They said in another thread they routinely carry a balance on CSP, which ok is not as bad since it's 15% but it's still a lot more than 8% (or ideally, you pay no interest because you spend what you can afford).

I don't want to tell OP what to do but carrying balances on rewards cards, regularly, is counterproductive and as you said, the interest is just eating up all of the rewards and then some, meaning a lower APR card would be better than rewards in this case.

Sometimes people get sucked into the psychology of "rewards" and forget some simple things. 18 or 15 or 8% is still more, no matter what, than the 1-5% you're earning in rewards.

Re: Got APR lowered on Forward.

icyhot — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 23:14:07 GMT

KDM, the balance is never that high to carry over, I normally treat my BofA card as a debit card and pay for things as soon as I buy them, but sometimes I have a big unexpected purchase so that brings the balance over (like medical emergencies). I have yet to see interest charged on my BofA card tho. Maybe I'm missing something

Re: Got APR lowered on Forward.

kdm31091 — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 23:28:23 GMT

@icyhot wrote:
KDM, the balance is never that high to carry over, I normally treat my BofA card as a debit card and pay for things as soon as I buy them, but sometimes I have a big unexpected purchase so that brings the balance over (like medical emergencies). I have yet to see interest charged on my BofA card tho. Maybe I'm missing something

Sorry, not trying to argue with you but you said you "normally" carry a balance, so I assumed you meant all the time. Medical emergencies don't happen every month; I thought you meant you habitually carried a balance (and you had mentioned carrying one on CSP before too). Just to clarify, in my mind, "carrying a balance" means having the existing balance for more than one billing cycle and thus accruing interest. I do not mean "always showing a zero balance at every moment by paying off every purchase as you make it" which would be overkill.

Unless you are paying the existing balance in full, and then accruing a new balance and paying it off the next month (which is fine), you're going to be charged interest (unless you're in a 0% period), so not sure what you are looking at.

So if it is the case that you routinely carry a balance, and pay 18% interest on it, it makes sense to get a lower APR card like the Ring rather than worrying about rewards.

Re: Got APR lowered on Forward.

icyhot — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 23:32:28 GMT

I'm looking at my statement. Where it says "Interest Charged" it always says 0. Idk. I know a low APR card it out the question now cuz my profile doesn't support it. Oh well. I'll just pay interest if I have too. Hasn't killed me yet

Re: Got APR lowered on Forward.

SOGGIE — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 23:37:13 GMT

Super congrats!

Re: Got APR lowered on Forward.

Ghoshida — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 23:41:21 GMT

@icyhot wrote:
I'm looking at my statement. Where it says "Interest Charged" it always says 0. Idk. I know a low APR card it out the question now cuz my profile doesn't support it. Oh well. I'll just pay interest if I have too. Hasn't killed me yet

I'm assuming it's not in a promo 0% APR. If it is, then that's the reason why you aren't getting charged interest.

The other possibility is that you're getting confused between letting a balance report, and then paying in full before the due date, as against carrying a balance over multiple months, not paying the statement amount in full.

Doing the first just sometimes lowers FICO score. I've done it countless times and mostly before joining this forum. That's the way, I thought, how credit cards should be treated. Have a $2k limit, charge anywhere between $1k to $1.5k on it, let it post, pay off the balance before due date while charging the card back again. Utilization went down the drain but never paid any interest.

Doing the second may lower FICO score as well as cost you in interest. Generally the interest is high enough to eat away any points earned unless those were 5% categories or signup bonuses.

Re: Got APR lowered on Forward.

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 23:44:28 GMT

Congrats on lowering your interest rate. I know you mentioned your profile does not support a low interest CC at the moment, however please look into a credit union no frills cc something. Preferably with no balance transfer fees. PSECU is one that I use. If I have a large unexpected emergency I use my rewards card then BT to the CC when I get the bill...they have a constant promo of 2.99 fixed until the end of the next calender year. It gives a little breathing room to be able to tackle something without being taken to the cleaners so to speak. Congrats again and well done on lowering the interest rate and thanks for posting.

Re: Got APR lowered on Forward.

icyhot — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 23:47:33 GMT

That's what I want to do, use the rewards card for the purchase then BT, I'll look into a credit union soon