If you are carrying a debt load such as a mortgage or credit card or both, you are probably spending much more on interest payments than towards your principal. That is just the way credit works. There is a way you can reorganize your finances to ensure that you get a mortgage or credit card that is actually cheaper. Ask for a lower rate.
It is true that a short telephone call can help you cut down on your interest payments. If you do not make the call, credit card and mortgage lenders will not bring down your interest rates of their own accord. In the case of cheap financing, the squeaky wheel will get the grease. In a 2002 national survey from U.S. Public Interest Research Group fifty customers with varied credit backgrounds called credit card and mortgage companies and requested lower rates. In this study, over half scored lower rates - a whopping 56%. Rates were seen to drop on average from 16% to 10.47. According to reports, clients have been pleasantly surprised that their credit cards and mortgages rates were sliced by one third simply through one phone call. It simply flows with the - it doesn't hurt to ask philosophy. If you don't ask, you DEFINITELY won't get it. Unless you make the first move and try to find out, you just never know what could happen.
So why don't more people do this? It is simple, it just doesn't occur to us. We are given a rate, we sign to it, and we presume it is immovable. But it costs credit card companies and mortgage lenders several hundred dollars in advertising and marketing to acquire one new customer. Today with online vendors offering the same service, competition is tough and if you are a good customer, the lender is going to work hard to keep you. Further, the lenders can afford to cut you a break, and they will certainly make you better offers if they see you as a potential customer. And this is precisely the approach you need to take when you make that call. "Hi this is so and so calling. In the mail today I've gotten about 4 different offers to reduce my mortgage rate or Visa interest rate. I am interested in getting a lower rate. What can you do for me so that I won't have to switch to another company?"
Be cool and agreeable. You just need to ask, and always remember that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. And follow the adage, if at first you don't succeed, try, and try again. You may get someone more cooperative on the phone next time. You may be redirected to the "customers threatening to switch" department. You never know what is going to happen until you try. If you are struggling with high interest rates, you have the power to at least try to do something about it. You have nothing to lose and more money in your pocket to gain
