28.99% int. rate... AAAAHHHH!

[Anonymous]

I carry balances on 4 credit cards... two on which have interest rates over 20%. I have a good FICO score. The one that bugs me, badly, has an $8900 balance at 28.99%. I've been with the issuer for 10 yrs, and two late payments late last year made the int. rate go up to this percentage. I am not able to pay them off, don't want to open any more CC accounts, but desperately need this %rate to go way down.

Anyone with suggestions on how to approach this issuer, or general help for me???

[jmbfl]

Which issuer is it? Chances are with two lates in the last year you are stuck. Approval by another issuer with a 0% BT offer is possible, but not a given. Issuers do not want to see recent lates, particularly in this time of heightened credit standards.

You are carrying too much revolving debt and this is not the climate for doing so. You are going to have to get aggressive about paying this balance down. You were RJ'ed for a reason - your other issuers may take AA, too.

[Anonymous]

Hi Elicbn, welcome to the forums!

It's a long shot because of the late payments, but you might be able to get them to lower your interest rate by calling and asking. I had Chase lower my interest by asking. They dropped it from 15.99 to 10.24. Not too shabby. 

[Cleanmachine]

I totally agree, contact your issuer and request a lower APR.

Not only for the 28.99%, request a lower APR on the 20% one also.

If you are declined, suggest you contact your local Financial Institution or Credit Union and try to obtain a personal loan and pay these cards off.

That rate is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi Elicbn, welcome to the forums!

It's a long shot because of the late payments, but you might be able to get them to lower your interest rate by calling and asking. I had Chase lower my interest by asking. They dropped it from 15.99 to 10.24. Not too shabby. 

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Apologize for Threadjacking, but did Chase do a hard pull to lower your interest rate?

[jmbfl]

I called Citi and complained about the rate I was granted on my recently approved Diamond Preferred card. (It was the Tier II rate and not Tier I.) It was suggested that I should threaten to close the card if I didn't get an adjustment, which I did and they lowered the APR. I was at 11.74%V and was lowered to 6.99%V. I would not make a threat to close an account without some indication that you will get what you want as you might well have your bluff called. In the case of the OP and the account mentioned I doubt anything will budge that rate until there has been at least 12 months of on-time payments on all accounts, if then.

I would shop the CU of your choice for an installment loan to consolidate this debt. It would be a good move to convert all or most of it from revolving to installment debt. A potential problem is having sufficient income to justify the amount of the installment loan. There also is the issue of running up your revolving accounts again once consolidated. Bottom line is OP needs a plan to reduce the debt load before acting. Otherwise consolidation could be a large step down the road to disaster!

[Anonymous]

The issuer is FIA Card Services...

[fishbjc]

I had one account at 29%, I just transferred it to NFCU for 14% (about $700).  If you can get into NFCU, they're the way to go.

Otherwise, you may be able to negotiate a lower % rate after 12 ontimes.  I say call and ask, you just never know. 

[Anonymous]

Is it smart to apply for a card with a lower Int. rate and an intro. rate even if I can only transfer part of the balance currently at 28.99%? My CU won't approve me for the total balance of that CC either. I tried that already...  

[Anonymous]

Times are tough for the banks, and they're taking it out on us. I had a WAMU Visa RJ'd to 29.99% - had a four-day old $3.75 balance - yes, under four dollars, for under a week - on it. No lates - EVER - to them. Most recent late otherwise is >10 years ago.

It took over an hour with CSR to find out what had happened - or hadn't happened; they just felt like RJing. I asked for an interest rate drop - nope. (I did NOT authorize them to do a hard pull; I didn't care that much.) They flat out admitted that they really didn't have any reason at all to jack my rate - they did it because they could.

Good luck arguing with your cc company. No advice for how to get them to drop the rate; with credit so tight right now, they have the power and they know it. Also, with the new laws coming into effect in just over a year (I think), I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of RJing now, since the companies' ability to do it will be hampered in the future.