@Reighn9 wrote:
@ACsteel wrote:
Clear all your debts first. When you're making demands you should be in a firm position to make them while anticipating objections in advance.
So this means it doesn't matter that you have excellent payment history, longevity, no baddies, or other derogatory information I've seen many others post with success in talking to credit managers and customer service reps. Just no balances on any accounts?
Not to further pulverize this dead horse, but you've *almost* nailed it. A balance on an account or two (or three) is perfectly okay. However, stop and put yourself in the creditor's shoes, and try to see things from their perspective. They see eleven accounts with not-so-insignificant balances, a pretty substantial total credit limit across those accounts, and a request from you for more credit. A lot of "what if" scenarios are going to run through their mind.
First and foremost, they're going to wonder why you're carrying balances on so many cards at once as it is, and rightfully so. It's okay to carry a balance for a while if you have a 0% APR deal, but chances are very slim you have that deal on 11 cards. The assumption is that you're carrying this many balances because you can't pay them all, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if you had to pay them all down to $0 this month that would be a challenge (no offense, just a shot in the dark). So why should they give you more rope if it looks likely to them that you're going to wind up hanging yourself?
I don't doubt for a minute that you can get this ship turned around and start getting yourself in a better financial situation, which includes a better portfolio of cards.
1. Look closely at each card. You want to go after your cards with the highest APR first, regardless of balance. Target those cards.
2. Pay off the balances you can afford to pay off on those high APR cards first. Then, look for zero-fee balance transfer opportunities and consolidate the remaining balances onto one or more low-APR cards. Many creditors will charge a flat fee or percentage fee for balance transfers. Others will do it for free. You want free.
3. Pay down the balances on those low-APR cards as far as you can.
4. Close out any cards with an annual fee unless there's some really good reason to pay the fee.
With a little bit of shuffling and a focus on minimzing the finance charges to allow you to quickly pay down the remaining balances, you'll get the overall balance down, significantly reduce the number of cards reporting a balance, put yourself in a better financial position and look far more favorable to creditors.
