The Fed Lowered Interest Rates - What About Your Rate???

At its meeting in October, the Federal Reserve cut its key interest rates by 0.5%. This is good news for many consumers who carry various types of debt. Within one or two payment cycles users of home-equity-lines-of-credit that are tied to the prime rate should see their interest rate decrease. Small business loans and consumer loans tied to prime rates will also carry lower rates moving forward. However credit card issuers are unlikely to pass along a reduced interest rate to any of their customers. So what's a card holder to do?

The answer is actually fairly simple - call the company and ask for a lower rate. In most case the first customer service representative that you speck with will be unable to help you, so make sure to ask for a supervisor. If you've been with the company for a longer period of time and have never had any late payments, make sure you point this out. Pointing out good credit scores and reminding the company that you can easily close your account and move to another issuer will often be enough for the supervisor to get the process started for your new lower rate.


If you have any comments or questions I'd like to hear them.