we've got more power than we think...

Avatar for colomom99
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
we've got more power than we think...
5
Fri, 11-05-2004 - 5:29pm
Since I am now officially obsessed with getting my credit card debt under control I decided to take aim at the interest rates. I called up my two big cards: GM Mastercard (8K) and Bank One (14K -- yikes!) and asked them both to lower their APR from 13.9. It just went up on both even though I have never been late and always pay significantly more than minimum. They both refused and were quite snarky about it. Fine. I then called Chase to take them up on their 0 percent transfer rate for life of balance with no transfer fee and was immediately approved for $15K. Bye, bye Bank One. Then I transferred the other balance to Providian which was offering 3 percent, also no transfer fee. I will keep GM card open with zero balance (hide the card, though) because I may want to keep the reward points towards a car in the next year of so.

Feeling fiesty I pulled my credit report and found out I still had a Capitol One account open. I called them and asked what their balance trasnfer rate was. They were so incredibly rude. They said even though my account was paid in full and had been since 2002 they had put a hold on it and refused to allow any kind of balance transfer. I asked why and they could not/would not explain it. Then they said if they lifted the hold they would charge me 15.9 percent APR. I told them to close the account for good.

I just feel like these companies are all competitive with each other and if we don't get satisfaction from one we should just keep looking.... Jenny

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 11-05-2004 - 6:58pm

Jenny,


All my best,
Danni

Avatar for colomom99
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
Fri, 11-05-2004 - 7:12pm
Hmm. I did not know that. They seemed fine with it when I did it over the phone. I don't really care since I was only aiming at the interest rates. If they allow the 0 pecent to stand so much the better. When the transfer goes through I will close Bank One. But now you've got me worried. Jenny
Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 11-05-2004 - 7:23pm
No no!

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-16-1999
Sat, 11-06-2004 - 8:10pm
We have used the transfer plan to our advantage and are in the process of doing it again. We can get 0% for a year or so and a fixed 6.9% after that. We are transferring everything from any higher interest cards plus some from my college alumni card wish actually has a lower fixed rate than the "transfer" card. With no interest to pay we can just divide the balance by the number of months and have the entire balance paid off in a year. We've done it in the past and it's worked for us. I know... that only works if you don't use the other cards. We are pretty good about closing out accounts or not using them. That was one of the reasons I asked a previous question regarding whether to close out open lines of credit that I'm not using. We have pretty stable income and usually live well below our means. We've kinda gotten hit with two kids getting married in one year so we used our cards a little more than usual so we just want to blast away the balances. I've run into the same sort of thing with Citibank. I've had their card for years and have a great credit record with them. My overall credit rating is really good and the fools will not give me a rate below 13%. The crditi card offers I get are more in the 5.9- 7.9 range and these people think I'm going to settle for 13%
Avatar for mymartes
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 11-06-2004 - 9:15pm
Power to you, girl.

0% interest for the life of the balance is teriffic (sp?). Those $14K will disappear in no time.

MYM