Lower Credit Card Rate? Coming Right Up


by Anthony Samuel - Date: 2007-01-30 - Word Count: 496 Share This!

If you use your credit card often, like most of us, you are always on the look out for lower interest rates. You want to see more of a reduction in your actual credit card balance, rather than so much of your hard earned cash going directly towards interest.
Here are a few ways you can make that wish a reality.

Transfer to a new card:

One of the easiest ways is to apply for a credit card with a lower interest rate and transfer your balance to the new account. Many credit card providers offer attractive introductory rates that you can take advantage of. These include 0% APRs on balance transfers and new purchases combined with lower interest rates for the life of the transferred balance.

Consolidate:

You can consolidate your credit card balances and reduce your total debt. A consolidation company can negotiate with other institutions on your behalf to get you reduced balances on your various accounts. To make the most of this service, you can continue to pay the same amount as you were paying before towards the new debt in order to reduce the balance you owe faster, while concentrating on repaying just one or two credit cards.

Keep your credit rating good:

Having a good credit rating could help you get offers for lower interest rates on credit cards. In order to keep a good score, be sure to pay your bills and avoid late payment charges by setting up standing orders for set amounts or for the entire balance to be paid at the end of the month.

In addition do not max out your credit cards or go over your limit. Ideally you should only use 30% of your card limit. This may be hard to do, but try your best to achieve it.

Negotiate a better rate with your banker:

As long as you have not maxed out your card and you pay more than the minimum balance each month, you could be a good position to negotiate with your banker. Get a copy of your credit report and credit score so you know exactly what you have to negotiating with.

If you have offers of lower rates from other institutions use this as leverage also. Your banker, if he is smart, would rather keep your business at a lower rate than lose it all together.

Reduce your debt to income ratio:

The debt to income ratio shows how much you spend on outgoings compared to how much you earn. A good figure would be around 36%. Anything higher than 36% may result in higher interest rates being offered to you when you apply for credit. Draw up a plan to reduce your debt to income ratio and stick to it. Once your ratio it is lower than 36%, approach institutions for lower interest rates.

Low interest rates do not have to be out of your reach, assess your individual situation and select the option that most suit your circumstances and go after that low interest that you want.


Related Tags: balance transfer credit cards, 0% balance transfers, no balance transfer fee, best balance transfer

Apply for discover platinum card or review and compare many more Balance Transfer Credit Cards at http://www.apply-for-a-credit-card-now.com

Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles

© The article above is copyrighted by it's author. You're allowed to distribute this work according to the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license.
 

Recent articles in this category:



Most viewed articles in this category: