Negotiating Rates With Your Credit Card Company
by BestCreditCardsOnline.com

Ok, let’s face it, everybody hates high credit card rates, and they drain hard earned money out of your wallet. As a valued consumer, it is apparent that you learn how to negotiate to get the absolute best rate that you possibly can. The good news however is that it doesn’t have to be a difficult or time-consuming process. In fact, it can be very easy indeed if you know what you’re doing. In this article we will discuss the ins and outs of credit card negotiating to ensure that you get the best rate with the least amount of effort.

First and foremost, you should figure out if you even want to continue using your current credit card company. Are you pleased with the overall service that you are receiving? Do you like their benefits? If the answer is yes then you can proceed forward and try to negotiate. If not, you should stop reading this article and start looking for a better company.

Second, evaluate your payment history and make sure that it's positive before you call. If it's positive then you have power and if it isn’t then you’ll be negotiating from a position of weakness. Instead, you should wait until it is more positive before you call them to negotiate rates.

Third, if you have a good credit history then remember this when you make your call. In essence, you’ll have extremely more negotiating power with a higher credit score. The company needs your business in order to be successful and with clients they lose big time. Therefore, you should always display this “take them or leave them attitude” while conducting your negotiations.

Draft up a script and memorize it. It can be as simple as “Hello, my name is Bill and I have been a cardholder for X years and I consistently pay my bills on a time. Well recently I have been receiving all types of credit card offers from XYZ bank indicating that I qualify for an extremely low interest rate of X.XX and am considering leaving you and going with them if you can’t offer me a lower interest rate. Is this something that you can help me out with?

Practice, practice and practice some more with your script until you are completely and totally used to it. Once you are, contact the company. Read your script and see what happens.

If you get a hard nose customer service representative - don’t threaten them. Be agreeable and ask to speak to his/her supervisor. If that's not possible, be nice and try again - they may give some leeway. If you like your present company, you can even try negotiating rates, annual and even those yucky late fees.

However, if you’re fed up, have an alternative company in the wings, and your current company won’t budge with their rates then be willing to take your business elsewhere. After all, you hold the power so don’t be afraid to use it! They key however is to not bluff but to follow through with your threat. Close the account, ask for them to send you notification in the mail, cancel the card and use another one.

This article is the property of www.bestcreditcardsonline.com, which has been offering credit cards services since 2002. To find out more visit www.bestcreditcardsonline.com.