Are Advertised APRs Set in Stone?

[Repairman]

When credit cards publish an APR range when applying, based on your creditworthiness,  can those APRs ever drop BELOW that published range? For example, let's say an AMEX card published, when applying the APR on the card is 13.9% - 21.9% and you are approved at a rate of 13.9%, in the future, if your credit report, score and income improve since the time you originally applied, is it possible/common for you to request a reduction in your APR below the published lowest APR amount, and have your request granted? Or are those published APR ranges set in stone, and no one would ever be able to get lower or higher than that published range?

[FinStar]

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@Repairman wrote:

When credit cards publish an APR range when applying, based on your creditworthiness,  can those APRs ever drop BELOW that published range? For example, let's say an AMEX card published, when applying the APR on the card is 13.9% - 21.9% and you are approved at a rate of 13.9%, in the future, if your credit report, score and income improve since the time you originally applied, is it possible/common for you to request a reduction in your APR below the published lowest APR amount, and have your request granted? Or are those published APR ranges set in stone, and no one would ever be able to get lower or higher than that published range?

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Not necessarily and definitely not for AmEx.  They stopped honoring customer-initiated requests for APR reductions a long while ago.  For those who were able to do so before the ship sailed are likely granfathered into lower APRs than what you'd see advertised.

Discover, Citi Legacy, NFCU are some examples of lenders that may offer exceptional scenarios, but unless you've been a tenured customer, anything lower than advertised is fairly uncommon.  

[Slabenstein]

Not all lenders let you request APR reductions, but, of the ones that do, I know at least Discover has done reductions below their lowest current advertised APR for some people.

[Repairman]

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@FinStar wrote:

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@Repairman wrote:

When credit cards publish an APR range when applying, based on your creditworthiness,  can those APRs ever drop BELOW that published range? For example, let's say an AMEX card published, when applying the APR on the card is 13.9% - 21.9% and you are approved at a rate of 13.9%, in the future, if your credit report, score and income improve since the time you originally applied, is it possible/common for you to request a reduction in your APR below the published lowest APR amount, and have your request granted? Or are those published APR ranges set in stone, and no one would ever be able to get lower or higher than that published range?

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Not necessarily and definitely not for AmEx.  They stopped honoring customer-initiated requests for APR reductions a long while ago.  For those who were able to do so before the ship sailed are likely granfathered into lower APRs than what you'd see advertised.

Discover, Citi Legacy, NFCU are some examples of lenders that may offer exceptional scenarios, but unless you've been a tenured customer, anything lower than advertised is fairly uncommon.  

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Wow, sorry to hear that about AMEX. I guess I'm one of the grandfathered ones as I continually got my APR reduced several years back to lower than any of their currently advertised rates, but I didn't remember whether the APR of this card was advertised this low at the time. So does that mean any new AMEX in the future, I would be stuck with whatever APR I'm given at the time of approval?

[FinStar]

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@Repairman wrote:

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@FinStar wrote:

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@Repairman wrote:

When credit cards publish an APR range when applying, based on your creditworthiness,  can those APRs ever drop BELOW that published range? For example, let's say an AMEX card published, when applying the APR on the card is 13.9% - 21.9% and you are approved at a rate of 13.9%, in the future, if your credit report, score and income improve since the time you originally applied, is it possible/common for you to request a reduction in your APR below the published lowest APR amount, and have your request granted? Or are those published APR ranges set in stone, and no one would ever be able to get lower or higher than that published range?

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Not necessarily and definitely not for AmEx.  They stopped honoring customer-initiated requests for APR reductions a long while ago.  For those who were able to do so before the ship sailed are likely granfathered into lower APRs than what you'd see advertised.

Discover, Citi Legacy, NFCU are some examples of lenders that may offer exceptional scenarios, but unless you've been a tenured customer, anything lower than advertised is fairly uncommon.  

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Wow, sorry to hear that about AMEX. I guess I'm one of the grandfathered ones as I continually got my APR reduced several years back to lower than any of their currently advertised rates, but I didn't remember whether the APR of this card was advertised this low at the time. So does that mean any new AMEX in the future, I would be stuck with whatever APR I'm given at the time of approval?

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Correct.

[Anonymous]

In 2019, Paypal 2% MC reduced my apr 25.99% to 12.99 (now 11.24%) without asking.

[FinStar]

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@Anonymous wrote:

In 2019, Paypal 2% MC reduced my apr 25.99% to 12.99 (now 11.24%) without asking.

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Right.  This can also happen with a variety of other lenders (e.g. Chase, BoA, Comenity V/MC, WF, etc.) where account portfolios are reviewed periodically and some receive lower APRs without direct requests from a customer.  Those instances, just like individuals grandfathered into lower APRs, are not that common.  I believe the OP was referring to being able to request it.  

That said, if individuals typically PIF (so as not to accrue finance charges), then APR is really irrelevant.