Thanks for the reminder @CreditCuriosity. I periodically try to lower my APRs but hadn't done it lately. I looked at my accounts and made a few phone calls.
My Discover is my oldest currently-active card at 27 years. My APR wasn't stellar on it a long time ago as my scores were lower and debts were higher. The last time I reduced it a few years ago, I dropped it to 13.99%. While I don't pay interest, I still try to keep my rates low. A three-minute phone call to a nice female rep in Phoenix and I was offered a temporary reduction to 0% for 12 months (OR) a permanent reduction of 2 points to 11.99% which is the currently-advertised lowest rate. So I took the 11.99%. 
She said I could ask for review in another six months to try to take it lower.
From practical experience on numerous calls with Chase, I know they only consider APR changes in periodic reviews and won't do one at customer request. None of my Chase APRs are that great although I think most are at the low end of approval range. Unfortunately, I have my one older Chase card at the 'penalty' rate from some issues almost 20 years ago and they won't reduce it. I PIF so it's not really important but it still annoys me that they won't budge. 
My USAA "Rate Advantage" is not a great rate at all since I got it a few years ago when my score was lower. It pays no rewards and still has a higher APR (12.99%) than several of my rewards cards. Unfortunately, USAA is one of the most rigid lenders I've ever worked with and they will not reduce an APR after the card is approved. You're stuck with the APR at approval. I've considered cancelling this card and then reapplying for it since the lowest APR is 6.90%. That would be my 2nd lowest APR card.
My Bank of America Cash Rewards is at 11.99% and the lowest advertised rate is 13.99% so I'm doing okay there. I called and the specialist said no lower rate is currently available for me.
My Capital One Quicksilver is at 11.90% and the lowest advertised is 15.49%, so I'm doing okay there. I called tonight to see if they had any other offers since other members posted lower rates but representative said they'd suspended APR reviews. (I imagine due to the economy but she said she didn't know why; just that the offers weren't available.)
My PenFed Power Cash Rewards is at 9.99% and the lowest advertised is 14.99%, so doing well there also, especially for a 2% cash-back card.
My local CU rewards card (pays just 1% normally) has an awesome 8.50% APR.
I got the lowest rates available on my Navy FCU Platinum Visa and AOD FCU 3% cash-back Visa Signature at 5.99% and 7.49% respectively, both approved as new cards within the past year. I specifically got the Platinum card due to the awesome perennially-low interest rate.
So I have four cards permanently under 10% and three of them pay rewards of up to 3% on top of it! Options are always nice.
I'm a firm believer in having some low-APR options available just-in-case something comes up. You may not always have a 0% APR offer available or be in a position to app for a new card. And out of principle, I like to keep my APRs as low as possible even though I PIF. I have autopay enabled but if something comes up that keeps me from paying my balances off, I like knowing I won't get charged huge fees unnecessarily. Life happens and I like being prepared for it.
@Aim_High wrote:Thanks for the reminder @CreditCuriosity. I periodically try to lower my APRs but hadn't done it lately. I looked at my accounts and made a few phone calls.
My Discover is my oldest currently-active card at 27 years. My APR wasn't stellar on it a long time ago as my scores were lower and debts were higher. The last time I reduced it a few years ago, I dropped it to 13.99%. While I don't pay interest, I still try to keep my rates low. A three-minute phone call to a nice female rep in Phoenix and I was offered a temporary reduction to 0% for 12 months (OR) a permanent reduction of 2 points to 11.99% which is the currently-advertised lowest rate. So I took the 11.99%.
From practical experience on numerous calls with Chase, I know they only consider APR changes in periodic reviews and won't do one at customer request. None of my Chase APRs are that great although I think most are at the low end of approval range. Unfortunately, I have my one older Chase card at the 'penalty' rate from some issues almost 20 years ago and they won't reduce it. I PIF so it's not really important but it still annoys me that they won't budge.
My USAA "Rate Advantage" is not a great rate at all since I got it a few years ago when my score was lower. It pays no rewards and still has a higher APR (12.99%) than several of my rewards cards. Unfortunately, USAA is one of the most rigid lenders I've ever worked with and they will not reduce an APR after the card is approved. You're stuck with the APR at approval. I've considered cancelling this card and then reapplying for it since the lowest APR is 6.90%. That would be my 2nd lowest APR card.
My Bank of America Cash Rewards is at 11.99% and the lowest advertised rate is 13.99% so I'm doing okay there. I called and the specialist said no lower rate is currently available for me.
My Capital One Quicksilver is at 11.90% and the lowest advertised is 15.49%, so I'm doing okay there. I called tonight to see if they had any other offers since other members posted lower rates but representative said they'd suspended APR reviews. (I imagine due to the economy but she said she didn't know why; just that the offers weren't available.)
My PenFed Power Cash Rewards is at 9.99% and the lowest advertised is 14.99%, so doing well there also, especially for a 2% cash-back card.
My local CU rewards card (pays just 1% normally) has an awesome 8.50% APR.
I got the lowest rates available on my Navy FCU Platinum Visa and AOD FCU 3% cash-back Visa Signature at 5.99% and 7.49% respectively, both approved as new cards within the past year. I specifically got the Platinum card due to the awesome perennially-low interest rate.
So I have four cards permanently under 10% and three of them pay rewards of up to 3% on top of it! Options are always nice.
I'm a firm believer in having some low-APR options available just-in-case something comes up. You may not always have a 0% APR offer available or be in a position to app for a new card. And out of principle, I like to keep my APRs as low as possible even though I PIF. I have autopay enabled but if something comes up that keeps me from paying my balances off, I like knowing I won't get charged huge fees unnecessarily. Life happens and I like being prepared for it.
I don't press for my APRs to be low, because like you, I PIF. You might be giving up something by pressing them down, such as a 0% promo, or some other promo they might offer down the road. They look at everything they are giving you when it comes to perks, and since APRs are mostly useless to PIFs. You probably have one or two cards with very low APRs anyway, which could be used in some odd situation that you need them.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Aim_High wrote:Thanks for the reminder @CreditCuriosity. I periodically try to lower my APRs but hadn't done it lately. I looked at my accounts and made a few phone calls.
I don't press for my APRs to be low, because like you, I PIF. You might be giving up something by pressing them down, such as a 0% promo, or some other promo they might offer down the road. They look at everything they are giving you when it comes to perks, and since APRs are mostly useless to PIFs. You probably have one or two cards with very low APRs anyway, which could be used in some odd situation that you need them.
Well, it's possible but I really doubt it. I like to get the best terms all the way around and I've found many lenders will offer them if you ask. I don't think it's either-or. They have some wiggle room to sweeten the deal for client retention, similar to how some report getting credits periodically towards the annual fees on some cards as a retention bonus. So why not get both a low permanent APR as well as the BT offers? I still get frequent BT offers from several of my lenders with whom I've reduced APRs, Discovercard being a specific case-in-point with which that has happened. (I've lowered APRs several times with them and I've had 0% BT offers on my log-in.pecific case-in-point with which that has happened. (I've lowered APRs several times with them and I've had 0% BT offers on my log-in for as long as I can remember.) And of course, I'm in with Navy FCU now and I've heard they offer BT deals regularly.
The other big reason to ask for rate reductions is that as the prime rate lowers, lenders may not automatically review your account to lower it. The "squeaky wheel gets the grease." I've found that happens often and it is probably the biggest reason that Discover lowered my rate tonight. That 13.99 I had was lower than the advertised rates a few years ago. Also, as my credit score increased and my accounts have aged, I've found that lenders often "reward" longer-term clients with rates below the standing rate for a card.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I don't press for my APRs to be low, because like you, I PIF. You might be giving up something by pressing them down, such as a 0% promo, or some other promo they might offer down the road.
I think this is a fair assessment and one that I agree with. While there may be examples out there of people having their cake and eating it too, I don't think it's unreasonable to believe that getting more in one area could result in getting less elsewhere. It's like a compensation package offered by a potential employer. The salary may leave a little to be desired, but that can be made up for with other perks like stellar family insurance coverage, extra time off, top-notch retirement plan etc. Go super hard for the extra salary though and a perk or two could be lost along the way. I'd let Discover raise my APR to 99.99% if it meant I could get 6% back on rotating categories instead of 5%.
That would be awesome if you could negotiate with lenders like that to put together the "package" you could both agree on! However, for only an additional 1% with the current cap that works out to only $60 per year ... and that's IF you max out each quarter. I don't think I would take that deal because the risk of ever having to pay that high rate isn't worth the low reward. I've often said it, but life happens even for those who "always" PIF before due date. Recently @Loquat posted about a situation where he appreciated minimum autopay when he had a car accident.
(See: https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Citi-Double-Cash-closed/m-p/6145731#M1746916)
But back to the "compensation package" analogy. I've been with some of my lenders for decades and these aren't cards I just opened last year. Things change. My four oldest cards (over 20 years each) have all been product-changed in some manner as the lender's offerings have changed. They didn't have to do that, but allowing me to evolve with them is just part of maintaining a good customer relationship. So even in employment compensation, those benefits and conditions get renegotiated regularly. Employers just don't shower most employees with high pay and benefits without a discussion. And a lender is happy to leave you with a higher APR, a lower credit limit, or an inferior rewards card just like an employer is happy to leave you with a low salary and crappy benefits relative to your peers unless you negotiate for more.
MyFico does it again. Just called Discover and they reduced my apr from 15.24 ----> 12.24 permanently. Still have my 0% BT offers as well. Thanks again!
Discover $21k | Venture $20k | Quicksilver $15k | NICU Rewards MC $13.5k | Costco $14.5k | Citi Costco $12.5k | Chase Sapphire Reserve $10k | Barclay Apple $9.6k | Best Buy MC $10k | Merrick Bank Visa (formerly Hooters) $2.6k |
I guess they don't do big jumps right away, I decided to ask for my first ever APR reduction. I spoke with Gabby in SLC and went from 22.99% to 19.24%. May try again in 6 months or so for grins.
