Cancel freedom and apply again for better APR ?!

[kdm31091]

Chase doesn't lower APRs if you ask.

[Anonymous]

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@JTC403 wrote:
Call EO and ask for Lower interest Rate

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Chase isn't CAP 1 where you can just reachout to EO and get things done.  

[Kenny]

This is where it gets silly for me. It's a freedom card -- it isn't mean to carry balances. If you do, then you're not taking advantage of the card's great attributes aka 5% CB on categories. I don't think I'd ever advocate someone cancelling a card just to reapply for it for a lower APR. You can guarantee yourself 0% APR by paying when you're supposed to. I understand the pride part of it all, but just best to be rational when it comes to credit. Good luck.

[kdm31091]

I get what you're saying, but let's just say all you have are high APR rewards cards. It is obviously better to seek a lower APR. In an ideal world, no, you wouldn't/shouldn't carry a balance on a rewards card. You want to "maximize the benefits" and all that, and interest eats up rewards.

With that said --> Crap happens. Things come up. You may have to carry a balance. You may have a large unexpected bill, or something. Anything can happen. Perhaps you don't have a low APR credit union card. You may put the charge on a rewards card with a high APR. It is not ideal or rational, but sometimes, things happen!

With regard to this particular circumstance, seeing as how 13.99% Freedoms are pretty darn rare, I wouldn't bother cancelling and reapplying. I also wouldn't bother asking Chase to lower your APR, because they will not. This is one reason I am not thrilled with Chase. They aren't interested in lowering APRs or doing SP CLIs or anything to help improve your account. It's just kind of lame, despite having some great cards. They don't seem to care about good history or anything, at all. That's my impression though, and I know others have great experiences with them.

Just pointing out that ideal is not always gonna happen. And, since it's free to seek out a lower APR, why not try to get it lowered? There's no downside, even if you "shouldn't" carry a balance on said card anyway. It's peace of mind to some extent to have a 13.99 APR vs. 22.99!

[Anonymous]

I don't see why its an issue to churn 0% APR Promos.

[kdm31091]

Depends on the person. I don't like opening new accounts over and over, simply because of AAOA. If I had some super backdated Amex or something, it wouldn't be as big of an issue, but, at this point, churning 0% APRs isn't gonna help me at all, as my AAOA will be nothing. If you have a longer history/backdated cards, it's not much of an issue.

I still prefer to keep cards longer term though, but it's a personal thing.

[Anonymous]

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@Kenny wrote:

This is where it gets silly for me. It's a freedom card -- it isn't mean to carry balances. If you do, then you're not taking advantage of the card's great attributes aka 5% CB on categories. I don't think I'd ever advocate someone cancelling a card just to reapply for it for a lower APR. You can guarantee yourself 0% APR by paying when you're supposed to. I understand the pride part of it all, but just best to be rational when it comes to credit. Good luck.

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@Kenny,

100% Agreed.  

[Anonymous]

That's what AMEX is for

[kdm31091]

Again, "paying when you're supposed to" sounds great and it is what you should do, but I still maintain that sometimes that's just not gonna happen. Life is not perfect. Unless you have a gigantic income or savings account you may carry a balance here and there, so it makes sense to seek the lower APR. I don't understand the argument against it. What's the downside of trying to get it lowered?

Taking out of the equation the whole cancelling/reapplying thing, because I think that is overkill especially with Chase, there is nothing wrong with trying to get a lower APR.

[Anonymous]

What is it with the recent craze of reducing APRs when profiles improves a bit anyway? If someone wants a really good APR then the CU is the way to go. If you have 20.9% APR and you go through the hassle of contacting EO to have it reduced to 18.9%, is that good enough?  I don't get it.  There are so many ways to go about these things..  I have APRs ranging from 20.9% to 7.9% on my cards. I don't care about the 20.9% APR on the card as I know I can get around it.