Fight Back Against Credit Card Interest Rate Increases!

Imagine this: you start out with a great credit card. Yes, there is such a thing as a great credit card, especially if it has a good interest rate and lets you make your life easier. Contrary to popular belief, credit cards really aren’t as evil as you might give them credit for. Unfortunately, there does come a time where you might look at your statement and realize that your interest rate has gone up.

There are a few reasons for that. The most obvious is that you made a late payment or a series of late payments. However, credit card companies have a lot of fine print that you need to read. One such clause in a lot of contracts is called the universal default clause. It means that you can get your interest rate raised simply because you paid another bill late. To the credit card company, it indicates a possibility that you’re starting to become riskier to have on hand, and they have to adjust their interest rate they offer you accordingly.

At this point, a lot of people just stop in their tracks. They see the high interest rate and think that there’s no way that they can do anything against the big bad credit card company. Thankfully, reality is often better than we assume. This means that if you’re really thinking about fighting back, you definitely should.

Here’s how to do it.

First, you will want to see if you can resolve it by phone. Call your credit card company’s customer service department and see about getting the interest rate changed. If you’ve never been late on anything to the company, then this shouldn’t be too painful. You can cite that you know that you’ve been late on something else, and if there’s a good reason why that happened, then you can let them know. The more temporary the reason, the better your case. You might get some pushback at this point.

If that doesn’t work, your next step is definitely going to be looking around at getting another credit card. Now, it might sound drastic to take this measure, but hey — if you know that you can get another deal, then you should definitely pursue it. It’s something that just makes sense in a big way.

Once you’ve found a credit card with a lower interest rate, you will want to make sure that you sit down and write a letter. You need to write a letter to your old credit card company and point out that you’ve been approved for a card with a lower interest rate, and you’re considering taking it, unless they can get you a better deal. Some guides suggest just threatening to do so, but you want to show that you really mean business. Anyone can bluff, you want to show that you’re really not afraid to get up and go do it.

That’s where you attach the approval letter inside your correspondence. If there’s something that you need to block out with permanent pen, then you can do that as well. When you send your letter, you don’t want to just stick a stamp on it and mail it out first class mail. That works for regular things, but when you really want to show a business that you’re being serious, you want to make sure that you send all correspondence certified mail, return receipt requested. That way you have proof that you sent it, and they can’t deny that you never contacted them if you call them on the phone. Every company has a department that they accept mail to, so do a little research and see where you need to write the company at.

This may sound like a lot of work just to get your interest rate lowered. However, you must remember that if you don’t take the time to do it, you’ll be stuck paying that higher interest rate for things that might not even be your fault or issue. After all, the company reserves the right to raise your rates anytime they see fit, for any reason. That’s in your contract.

If you stick to your guns and follow the advice in this guide, you should have no problem claiming the low interest rate that you rightfully deserve!