I have three major credit card accounts that I've had for many years. The other night I was reconciling my monthly statements and noticed a large discrepancy in
APR's (annual percentage rate) I was paying on these three accounts.My first card, card "A", has an APR of 8.9%; card "B" has an APR of 9.9%; and card "C" has an APR of 17.9% -Ouch ! I knew I had to see what I could do about this"out of range" interest rate on card "C". So I considered a couple of options.
One choice would be to transfer or switch balance on card "C" to a new card with a lower APR. This would be very easy to do since I had received several pre-approved credit card offers earlier in week. They included "convenience checks" that I could use to payoff that high APR credit card, thereby transferring that balance to a new account.
I decided against this option however because I didn't really want to add another account to my credit profile. Your credit score, that "magic number" that establishes your credit-worthiness to merchants can be affected negatively by having too many accounts.
So instead I decided to contact issuer of credit card "C" to see what they could do about that 17.9% APR which seemed so out of line with my two other credit card accounts. I reasoned this was better of two options before me since I've already established a relationship with this company; a relationship which included many years of on-time payments which reflects positively in my credit profile with credit bureaus.
I called 800 number and talked to a very a nice gentleman. I explained to him reason for my call; two other credit card issuers offered me a much more reasonable interest rate and so I'd like to see what his company could offer to me.
I wasn't surprised when he replied that he could lower my current rate from 17.9% to 15.9%. Since credit card company makes a profit from interest rate they charge I didn't expect to be offered best or lowest rate right off bat. I prepared myself to have to do a little negotiating.
