question about Chase Credit card interest rates ... and opinion on credit limits

[Anonymous]

I have 3 Chase credit cards ...

I am utilizing 30% of my available credit on each.

I have had a credit score of 803 for the past 5 months (FICO/Experian) ... prior to that a

score of 720 to 750'ish for about 6 years or so.

All cards held longer than 5 years (and I have a mortgage)

My interest rates (for purchases) on the three cards are:

1) 20.49% (credit limit is $3500)

2) 17.24% (credit limit is $2000)

3)29.49% (credit limit is $1800).

I'm wondering if I'm getting a bad deal (or just how bad) on the interest rates.

I am also wondering if my credit limits are low for my credit score and income.
Chase did not have my income on file prior to about 4 months ago when I updated my income

with them ($82,000).

For what it's worth, I'd generally prefer to keep my credit cards with Chase (consolidated with my other accounts there). So I'm looking for suggestions regarding the modification of these cards/balances kept with Chase.

Questions:

What would be reasonable interest percentages that I should expect on these cards?

What would be reasonable/moderate credit limits that I ought to be eligible for?

I intend to call Chase sometime soon and request changes to interest % and credit limits as

possible but am not sure what to ask for.

I would be very appreciative of any input on these two questions or any other suggestions.
Thanks.

[Remedios]

I doubt you will get apr reduction from Chase.
Best thing to do is pay them off and don't carry a balance if at all possible.

In terms of increasing limits, you will need to call them for CLI . There will be HP.
For some it worked wonders, for others no or small increase.

There is more to limits than just the income. There is no way to say if you make X amount, your CLs should be around Y.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

I'll add this anecdote but with the warning that what I experienced is probably extremely rare (as rare, or even more so, than an auto cli from Chase):

You might find yourself with an offer to take a SP "no credit inquiry required" credit line increase request. I got one of these in the mail for my CSP thinking it was a typical promo APR or BT offer. Almost shredded without reading. They gave me a offer code +url to enter into an otherwise standard cli request form. Went for it and got $5k making my total cl $10k. Offer came maybe ~15mo after opening the card. Prefect payment history & PIF with one intentional exception. The letter mentioned my "exceptional payment history" in a way that very much made it sound like the deciding factor in making me the offer to begin with.

[kdm31091]

Unfortunately, 99.9% of the time, Chase doesn't entertain APR reductions. You are stuck with the APR you were approved with, regardless of your positive account history, improvements in credit file, etc. They just don't do APR reductions.

As for CLIs, they aren't really known for budging greatly on that, either. You can take a HP and request an increase, but results are mixed at best, trending towards negative (i.e. no approved increase or a stingy one).

Unfortunately Chase basically wants you to take or leave what they offer you - they aren't known as being flexible or accomodating with customers.

[FinStar]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

Unfortunately, 99.9% of the time, Chase doesn't entertain APR reductions. You are stuck with the APR you were approved with, regardless of your positive account history, improvements in credit file, etc. They just don't do APR reductions.

As for CLIs, they aren't really known for budging greatly on that, either. You can take a HP and request an increase, but results are mixed at best, trending towards negative (i.e. no approved increase or a stingy one).

Unfortunately Chase basically wants you to take or leave what they offer you - they aren't known as being flexible or accomodating with customers.

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Slight correction/clarification to the above.  Chase will lower APRs to specific account segments on their own (i.e. system) based on periodic account reviews.  And, while they are not a common or popular occurrence on these forums, they do happen to an extent for a variety of products.   As far as customer-initiated requests, those are typically not honored. 

That being said, there's no way of knowing whether the OP could receive such an APR reduction at some point.  If such were the case, then the OP is not really "stuck" with that APR.   There's ways to position a behavior that can eventually yield a better APR.

[Turbobuick]

29.49% is a punitive rate, not for someone with excellent credit.  I have two Chase cards, 13.49 and 15.49. 

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

29.49%? I didn't even know they had a rate that high. Is there perhaps a late payment or cash advance or something on that card?

The 17% is petty decent (I think Chase has about 15% as minimum*) , and the 20% is not too bad.

*-As listed on their applications and website. Individul cards, accounts, and offers may vary.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your quick reply Remedios.

So if I understand  ... carrying balances (particularly at a high interest rate) just for the benefit of establishing "active credit use" for the purposes of maintaining my FICO score, might not be worth it?

As far as the CLI ... that is a very distant second to the interest rate issue. 

I'm primarily interested in whether my interest rates on the three cards is out of line.

As noted below, it certainly seems that my 29% interest rate on the one card is "punitive".  Would you concur with that?

What is your opinion about the other two (17.24? and 24.29%)?

Also, what would you say someone with my credit score etc (as I noted in my original post) might typically, reasonably expect as an interest rate?

[Anonymous]

Yes, I've noticed that in general (I have bank accounts and had a mortgage with them too) ... they have been less than cooperative. 

My thing is that I find it somewhat easier to keep my accounts householded at one institution.  I probably ought to re-consider giving my business to Chase.

Any feedback here on experiences with other banks/cu's etc?

Any recommendations in this regard?

[Anonymous]

In light of Chase being unwilling to go with customer initiated lowering of APR's ... I'm thinking a better strategy would be to just target (ask for) lowering of the 29.49% card. (?)