topic Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX! in Credit Cards

Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 12:07:46 GMT

Just got my Amex EveryDay card down to 7.49% APR. I guess my Ring will no longer hold the title for my lowest APR card.

They also lowered my Delta Gold to 17.24%.

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 12:47:53 GMT

congrats

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

Anomalous — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 14:22:14 GMT

Congratulations!

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

OmarGB9 — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 15:11:08 GMT

Grats

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

itguy_65 — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 18:45:47 GMT

WOW, that's AWESOME, as far as I have seen, that's the lowest they will go!! They have denied me, the best I can get is 9.49%. They tell me I have had the maximum two decreases in the last twelve months. Thank you myFICOers!!

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

ScoreOrBeScored — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 18:52:15 GMT

congrats,

my BCE is down to 8.49% they are great because i got it down from 21.99% and it only took 3 months to do it !!!!

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

Irisa — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 20:11:55 GMT

@ScoreOrBeScored wrote:
congrats,
my BCE is down to 8.49% they are great because i got it down from 21.99% and it only took 3 months to do it !!!!

Wow, that's impressive. How often did you ask for an APR deduction?

Mine was just lowered from 18.24% to 15.24%. I'm wondering how long I should wait before I try to get it a little lower. I don't carry a balance, but that rate still bothers me considering my credit scores are almost 800. I guess that's what I get for having applied for CCs when my scores were still not at their best. Lesson learned.

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

CreditDunce — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 21:01:43 GMT

@Irisa. Hey, that is exactly what they did for me today. They dropped my rate from 18.24% to 15.24%. I prettied up my accounts a little this month (paid before the statement date for all but 5 or 6 CCs), to boost my score into the 820's. I have been waiting for the new score to show up on Amex website before requesting an APR reduction.

Personally, I am going to wait a year before trying to get the rate down another 2%. I am not going to try to get the rate below the best rate for new applicants. I don't want to stick out when Amex reviews my account. The main reason I am requesting a lower APR is my spreadsheet. I made the mistake of adding formatting to turn the interest rate red if I the APR isn't the lowest published rate. With Fed pushing up interest rates for the next couple of years, I can see myself removing the interest rate columns rather than spend the time to update them every quarter or so. If this is your first APR reduction, I don't see why you couldn't request another reduction next month. The wost they will say is no. I

Amex doesn't necessarily give you the best rates even if your credit score is around 800. When I applied for my card I think my EX score was around 800 (my TU-08 was 812(?)). They gave me a rate of 17.99% (now 18.24% according to the rep today, the website still says 17.99%). I think a good bit of the interest rate they offer you is based on how high they think they can get away with.

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

Anonymous — Tue, 31 May 2016 23:34:22 GMT

@ScoreOrBeScored wrote:
congrats,
my BCE is down to 8.49% they are great because i got it down from 21.99% and it only took 3 months to do it !!!!

What? Can you please give me some tips? PM me if you can't do it on here. TY

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 00:22:50 GMT

Thats a nice APR for the ED card,,,, congrats

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

9CLINE — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 02:08:33 GMT

Congrats,,good to hear.. feels good to be in 7%. range my EDP has been@ 7.24 since dec.2015....

great news they are still lowering Aprs. Now if only Chase would get on board !!!!! lol

Since I don't carry bals. I won't ask again. Satisfied !!!!!!!

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

LuckyBird — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 04:31:51 GMT

I have a question for you guys...when y'all are stating these rate amounts, is that your rate before prime is added, or your total rate including prime? They're so low!

Also, I just had an interesting chat with an Amex rep named Brad (y'all inspired me to ask for a rate reduction & my EXP recently took a jump from 752 to 812, so I figured why not?)

I asked if there was a reduction available on my BCP & was offered prime + 10.99, but only for a year (after which it would return to 13.74). So of course I asked if there was a permanent reduction available, and he said I could ask for that after 4 billing cycles. I thought that was kind of weird....& he got slightly rude when I questioned it. I don't know how to add a screen shot, but this is verbatim:

Me: Well, I certainly appreciate any reduction. : ) However, I am curious as to the reason for a temporary reduction prior to a permanent one.

Brad: This is a special offer and I am suggesting you take it as it would provide you a much lower APR. You can surely ask for a permanent reduction after 4 bill cycles, but you won't lose anything as a lower APR would be effective as of now. This is a special offer only provided to select card members.

So of course I said I would take it, and he made the change and said, "You've been a valued card member for some time and we appreciate your business."

Anybody else ever been offered a temporary reduction by Amex? Thoughts on it?

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

AAstra — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 04:54:06 GMT

I'm currently at a 19.24% APR with over two years on the card and PIF. To everyone posting here with rates around the 10% range and lower - were requests done over chat or automatically offered to you? I would think with my profile that I could lower my current APR to something better.

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

RonM21 — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 16:21:04 GMT

Nice!

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

CreditDunce — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 17:29:20 GMT

@LuckyBird wrote:
I have a question for you guys...when y'all are stating these rate amounts, is that your rate before prime is added, or your total rate including prime? They're so low!

Also, I just had an interesting chat with an Amex rep named Brad (y'all inspired me to ask for a rate reduction & my EXP recently took a jump from 752 to 812, so I figured why not?)

I asked if there was a reduction available on my BCP & was offered prime + 10.99, but only for a year (after which it would return to 13.74). So of course I asked if there was a permanent reduction available, and he said I could ask for that after 4 billing cycles. I thought that was kind of weird....& he got slightly rude when I questioned it. I don't know how to add a screen shot, but this is verbatim:

Me: Well, I certainly appreciate any reduction. : ) However, I am curious as to the reason for a temporary reduction prior to a permanent one.

Brad: This is a special offer and I am suggesting you take it as it would provide you a much lower APR. You can surely ask for a permanent reduction after 4 bill cycles, but you won't lose anything as a lower APR would be effective as of now. This is a special offer only provided to select card members.

So of course I said I would take it, and he made the change and said, "You've been a valued card member for some time and we appreciate your business."

Anybody else ever been offered a temporary reduction by Amex? Thoughts on it?

The temporary rate reduction is a promo rate. If you have a promo rate (e.g. 0% introductory rate), you cannot get a permanent rate reduction. Congratulations on the big score increase. That is good score increase.

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

LuckyBird — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 18:15:39 GMT

@CreditDunce wrote:
@LuckyBird wrote:
I have a question for you guys...when y'all are stating these rate amounts, is that your rate before prime is added, or your total rate including prime? They're so low!

Also, I just had an interesting chat with an Amex rep named Brad (y'all inspired me to ask for a rate reduction & my EXP recently took a jump from 752 to 812, so I figured why not?)

I asked if there was a reduction available on my BCP & was offered prime + 10.99, but only for a year (after which it would return to 13.74). So of course I asked if there was a permanent reduction available, and he said I could ask for that after 4 billing cycles. I thought that was kind of weird....& he got slightly rude when I questioned it. I don't know how to add a screen shot, but this is verbatim:

Me: Well, I certainly appreciate any reduction. : )    However, I am curious as to the reason for a temporary reduction prior to a permanent one.

Brad: This is a special offer and I am suggesting you take it as it would provide you a much lower APR. You can surely ask for a permanent reduction after 4 bill cycles, but you won't lose anything as a lower APR would be effective as of now.  This is a special offer only provided to select card members.

So of course I said I would take it, and he made the change and said, "You've been a valued card member for some time and we appreciate your business."

Anybody else ever been offered a temporary reduction by Amex? Thoughts on it?

The temporary rate reduction is a promo rate. If you have a promo rate (e.g. 0% introductory rate), you cannot get a permanent rate reduction.  Congratulations on the big score increase. That is good score increase.

Thanks! I'm not exactly sure what prompted that large jump - the other 2 have remained pretty steady. I had a pretty substantial balance (a few thousand dollars) parked for about 3 months from a large purchase, and the score jump happened when that card reported $0 balance again. I paid it off in one chunk so it was a sudden decrease. That's the only thing I can think of that may have done it, but it didn't affect the other bureaus. My scores had all gone down slightly when that balance was first reported but not 60 points...overall utilization still wasn't very high so I only lost a few points on each.

I'm still a little confused about the temporary rate decrease...I'm not currently on a 0% promo rate & haven't been in a long time. But, oh well...I'll request a permanent one in 4 months as he suggested.

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

CreditDunce — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 18:31:34 GMT

It may have been better to wait a month and try again for the rate reduction. Or maybe just end the chat and ask a different CSR. By accepting the temp rate, you now have a promo rate. It may not be possible for a perm rate reduction until next year. However, please try in 4 months, I could be wrong.

I am assuming you are getting the score from Amex website...

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

alkaline — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 21:16:01 GMT

Congratulations! I started at 19.99% a couple of years ago on my BCE and now I'm at 7.24%. The past couple of months they've been unable to lower it further, though

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

LuckyBird — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 22:16:08 GMT

@CreditDunce wrote:
It may have been better to wait a month and try again for the rate reduction. Or maybe just end the chat and ask a different CSR. By accepting the temp rate, you now have a promo rate. It may not be possible for a perm rate reduction until next year. However, please try in 4 months, I could be wrong.

I am assuming you are getting the score from Amex website...

The scores are from here, but of course the EXP one matches the one on Amex.

I did say to the guy that I was under the impression that you couldn't ask for another rate reduction while on a promotional rate and he said that only applies to the 0% promotion.

I will definitely try it again in 4 months and see what happens. I never carry a balance on this card so it doesn't really matter currently, but I figure it's a good idea to try & get all my rates as low as possible, just in case. You never know what may happen!

Re: Lowest APR - Thanks AMEX!

CreditDunce — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 02:11:51 GMT

Let's hope the CSR was correct and you can request a lower APR in 4 months. It isn't what I understood, either. However, I am not 100% sure my understanding is correct.

Last month several people had issues with Amex updating their score. Either it didn't update or it was 3 weeks late. In my case, Amex updated my score twice in May, but the previous score still shows March. It is just a small glitch, but if Amex hadn't pulled/updated your score, they could have been using an old score. If the score matches then it isn't that. Although, I don't think it matters much if your score is 761 or 841. They are both good scores.

PS. If you haven't seen it yet, Discover is offering a free EX-08 score for everybody every 30 days.

https://creditscorecard.com/

Good luck, LuckyBird!