topic My Drastic APR Reduction Call w BOFA in Credit Cards

My Drastic APR Reduction Call w BOFA

laboi_22 — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 00:22:52 GMT

Good evening! As suggested here on this forum, I called the "secret number" for BofA to request an APR reduction. Previously people here have requested and reported good results. This is how my call went:

I call in, verify information about my account, and speak with this nice guy from Maine. I ask how I go about requesting an APR reduction. My card currently sits at 20.99% (which is the highest the card is allowed). He said that he would check and be right back. He came back with--congrats we can lower your APR to 18.99%. I almost laugh, but thought better about it. I actually almost hung up because all he would say was it takes time to get that APR down. So I decided rather than hanging up, I'd engage this guy and mention my history with other banks including BofA.

I told him that I felt a bit slighted because this was my first credit card after closing on my home with BofA. I waited a year after my home was closed upon to apply. I had no other credit cards ever with a clean report. My score was around 650 because of no history. I was grateful to get approved and started with a CL of 1,000. I quickly used the card and applied for CLIs back when they were just SPs. I got it up to 15,000. I told him I felt that BofA gave me their highest APR for this card at the time (now its up to 22.99%) and that I didn't have bad credit, but they weren't willing to give me a better rate. I was OK with that until now. I told him now I place all of my spending on my Chase cards which have an APR of 9.99% (a little fib here but oh well). He did acknowledge the fact that I had slowed my spending on the card. Previously I was using it around 7,000 a month and paying right off.

He then said well you pay it off every month so I'm not so sure why you are so worried about the APR you don't pay interest. Without skipping a beat, I give him the old peace of mind thing. Well Sir I'm always worried about paying off right away because of the high APR so I make multiple payments and race to beat the due dates in order to avoid the horrible interest. With Chase, I continued, I can rest easy that even if I don't get it all paid off at once, 9.99% is not that much to worry about compared to 20.99%. He started to buy it a bit and I could hear him typing. He offered to open a new account and get 0% for a year. I told him no go.

Finally I said that I would consider closing my current account and possibly applying for a new account with BofA since that would ensure that I'd get the 12.99% since my credit profile is near perfect.

He said well sir wait a minute I was emailing while we were talking, you are too good a customer to loose to Chase. My manager looked over your account. We are lowering your APR to 9.99% effective June 25th because of your statement ending date! OMG I'm so shocked. Persistence pays off. This is my lowest APR card to date after Chase at 15.24%

It pays to be a patient and good customer with lots of usage and other products with the same bank. Then you have leverage. I effectively used that leverage to get what I wanted!!

Re: My Drastic APR Reduction Call w BOFA

SpiceIslander — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 00:26:58 GMT

That's awesome! Congrats, way to go!!!!

Re: My Drastic APR Reduction Call w BOFA

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 00:32:40 GMT

And above all, you sounded very polite and frank with him! CONGRATS!

Re: My Drastic APR Reduction Call w BOFA

myjourney — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 00:33:39 GMT

Congrats on the rate reduction WTG and bravo on the way you handled it

Re: My Drastic APR Reduction Call w BOFA

laboi_22 — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 00:37:04 GMT

Thanks everyone. I was actually very polite about it really. I had nothing to loose and didn't treathen in any way. I just lightly mentioned that fact that Chase was really good to me and that BofA would loose some of my business because of that. When I mentioned that fact that I bet if I just reapplied, I would get a better rate, he got a little nervous and did something about it. He lowered it beyond even the lowest terms of the card per the T&Cs 12.99% !! I'm very excited and I now view BofA in a new light. We even had a polite chat about my other products and the often hidden benefits of my Visa Signature card. If only they would report the CL!!!

Re: My Drastic APR Reduction Call w BOFA

KIPPIE12 — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 00:40:50 GMT

Excellent!

Re: My Drastic APR Reduction Call w BOFA

linux007969 — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 00:47:19 GMT

Congrats!

Re: My Drastic APR Reduction Call w BOFA

armbenderc — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 00:52:51 GMT

@laboi_22 wrote:
Good evening! As suggested here on this forum, I called the "secret number" for BofA to request an APR reduction. Previously people here have requested and reported good results. This is how my call went:

I call in, verify information about my account, and speak with this nice guy from Maine. I ask how I go about requesting an APR reduction. My card currently sits at 20.99% (which is the highest the card is allowed). He said that he would check and be right back. He came back with--congrats we can lower your APR to 18.99%. I almost laugh, but thought better about it. I actually almost hung up because all he would say was it takes time to get that APR down. So I decided rather than hanging up, I'd engage this guy and mention my history with other banks including BofA.

I told him that I felt a bit slighted because this was my first credit card after closing on my home with BofA. I waited a year after my home was closed upon to apply. I had no other credit cards ever with a clean report. My score was around 650 because of no history. I was grateful to get approved and started with a CL of 1,000. I quickly used the card and applied for CLIs back when they were just SPs. I got it up to 15,000. I told him I felt that BofA gave me their highest APR for this card at the time (now its up to 22.99%) and that I didn't have bad credit, but they weren't willing to give me a better rate. I was OK with that until now. I told him now I place all of my spending on my Chase cards which have an APR of 9.99% (a little fib here but oh well). He did acknowledge the fact that I had slowed my spending on the card. Previously I was using it around 7,000 a month and paying right off.

He then said well you pay it off every month so I'm not so sure why you are so worried about the APR you don't pay interest. Without skipping a beat, I give him the old peace of mind thing. Well Sir I'm always worried about paying off right away because of the high APR so I make multiple payments and race to beat the due dates in order to avoid the horrible interest. With Chase, I continued, I can rest easy that even if I don't get it all paid off at once, 9.99% is not that much to worry about compared to 20.99%. He started to buy it a bit and I could hear him typing. He offered to open a new account and get 0% for a year. I told him no go.

Finally I said that I would consider closing my current account and possibly applying for a new account with BofA since that would ensure that I'd get the 12.99% since my credit profile is near perfect.

He said well sir wait a minute I was emailing while we were talking, you are too good a customer to loose to Chase. My manager looked over your account. We are lowering your APR to 9.99% effective June 25th because of your statement ending date! OMG I'm so shocked. Persistence pays off. This is my lowest APR card to date after Chase at 15.24%

It pays to be a patient and good customer with lots of usage and other products with the same bank. Then you have leverage. I effectively used that leverage to get what I wanted!!

Lol wow!!!

BoA keep sending my pre-approvel with 16.99 APR after 15 months 0% intro... 4 mails so far, one each week. It started with 18.99, not 16.99 LOL.

Re: My Drastic APR Reduction Call w BOFA

laboi_22 — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 01:09:27 GMT

I mean what a waste a paper. Who would even think that 18.99% was a good deal but then if you have first premier at 39% I guess it's a step up!

Re: My Drastic APR Reduction Call w BOFA

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 01:44:35 GMT

Awesome!

FIA seems to have turned things around.

Re: My Drastic APR Reduction Call w BOFA

laboi_22 — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 01:51:40 GMT

I don't know about all that lol I just got lucky!

Re: My Drastic APR Reduction Call w BOFA

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 02:01:21 GMT

@laboi_22 wrote:
I don't know about all that lol I just got lucky!

I've had a very similar conversation with Chase that ended different, LOL!

Re: My Drastic APR Reduction Call w BOFA

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 02:08:56 GMT

Awesome job. Congrats. Thanks for sharing your exp.

Re: My Drastic APR Reduction Call w BOFA

laboi_22 — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 00:09:31 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@laboi_22 wrote:
I don't know about all that lol I just got lucky!
I've had a very similar conversation with Chase that ended different, LOL!

LOL