Saving a few dollars on your credit card bills isn’t something most of us think about unless they’ve become a problem, but when you do take a good look at what you’re paying in interest, the fact remains that it is costing you plenty. If you have more than one credit card, the amount that you can save by just a few percentage points of interest is significant and will quite likely surprise you.

One fast way to save a few dollars is to ask the credit card companies to help you. Before you think we’ve completely gone off the deep end, let us explain.

In many cases, particularly if you’re a good customer who has made your payments in a timely way, the credit card companies will assist you in reducing your rates, but even if you’ve had some late payments that still holds true.

If you’ve been late or missed one or two payments over a long period of time most card companies will still negotiate with you because the economy being what it is, they’ve got other companies who are willing to offer you a much lower rate of interest to transfer your balance. They want to keep you as a customer. That’s the bottom line for many of them. Losing customers isn’t helping them to operate in the black so they will work with you to keep you on board.

Telephone your credit card companies using the customer service number that you will find listed on the back of nearly any credit card that you own. When you get someone on the line, which make take a bit of time given the automation that we all enjoy, simply tell them that you want to cut your credit card interest rate.

Tell them that you’ve been a customer for x number of years, that you’d love to continue with their company but that you have had an offer for a lower interest rate that will save you a substantial amount of money. If the first customer service person won’t or can’t offer you a reduction, then ask to speak to a supervisor and explain to them that you’d like to cut the rate of interest to avoid closing the account and taking your business to another company.

In many cases the customer service person who will speak to you first is unable to cut the rate, but the second will likely be able to accomplish that for you. Quite frankly, all they can say is no but very often the answer is yes and you will walk away with a reduction in the rate of interest or 2 or 3 percent simply by asking.

The truth of the matter is that so many credit card companies are experiencing a problem with customers taking their business to other cards to lower their interest or to transfer the balance in order to pay it off. This means that card companies are willing to work a little harder to help you get what you need. If your credit card balance is only five thousand dollars, cutting your rate of interest just three percent will save you more than 200 dollars a year or more depending on your overall rate of interest now. It never hurts to ask!!

Tags: credit card debt, how to lower your credit card rates, low rates on credit cards