what factor determines my high APR?

[Anonymous]

My discover IT card just arrived today in the mail. I was stunned that my APR is 23.99 % even though my equifax fico score is 712. My average age is 2.8 years and I have never missed a payment since I first started bulding my credit. However, I have sometimes carried a balance and I paid off my balance by the time I applied for this.   Plus my introductory 0% last only 12 months, not 14 months like what they advertise when I got prequalified for this card. Does anyone know what the reason is?Should I call them right away and ask to lower it? Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Discover is known to be fair about lowering Aprs. You can always ask. They may want a few statements to see your performance but likely you can get it lowered.

[Anonymous]

Disco's internal policy is to no give any apr reduction for at least a year from account opening.

As far as determining apr, usually people will sign up via a mail offer at a lower apr, otherwise they just wait and ask to lower it over time.

[Anonymous]

Thank you everybody for your responses. I will probably call and ask them why that high APR and to lower it if possibly. If not then I just work it out over time. Im not planning to carry a balance with this card so this should not be an issue.

[Anonymous]

Update: I just called discover today and asked why my APR is so high. The CSR said I can't request to lower at the moment since I'm a new cardholder and still in my promotional 0% period. I can call and request for a lower APR after my 0% APR ends.

[Anonymous]

Which is after a year or 14 months.

At which point they will likely offer you either a permanent 3% APR reduction or 6-12 months of 0% APR.

[Themanwhocan]

Once you can start requesting APR reductions, Discover will allow you to request one every 6 months. 

APR is usually based on FICO scores. If you don't have any other credit other than credit cards, you might try the Alliant Share Secured loan trick. Also, make sure you use the credit card utilization trick when necessary.

[Anonymous]

@matt4200: does that mean I can still request for another period of 0% APR after my introductory 0% APR ends? @themanwhocan: what is secured loan trick? And how does it work ?

[Themanwhocan]

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Adding-an-installment-loan-the-Share-Secu...

[trant3]

High APR correlates with high number of inquiries