What's a reasonable credit card %?

[living_in_oz]

I'm just curious. I have two credit cards right now with a balance. One is 7.9% and the other is 9.9%. We have excellent credit. There is no reason for us to be paying this amount of interest. We get probably 10 offers a week for a 0% to 3.9% credit. So, I want to negociate with my credit card company. Yes, I can transfer my balance to the low rate, BUT I will have to pay a transfer fee. If I call my CC company(both are Chase Mastercard BTW) and ask for a lower APR, what is considered "good". Again, we have excellent credit. As a matter of fact, DH was recently was told he could buy any truck on the lot because our credit was so good(BTW, he didn't buy a truck. He was just looking at the current price so we can start putting money away for a new truck in a couple of years). What do you think?

[LuxLiving]

Re: What's a reasonable credit card %?

I'd say anything under what you could earn in interest on your savings, so right now anything under say 5%...but I would shoot for lower if I twere you since you do have the other offers in hand.

[disneysteve]

Re: What's a reasonable credit card %?

We have excellent credit. There is no reason for us to be paying this amount of interest. We get probably 10 offers a week for a 0% to 3.9% credit.

I think this is exactly what you say when you call. You have excellent credit and have gotten at least a dozen offers for 0% cards. Tell them if they can't match that, you will be transferring the balance to a new card. They might give you 0% for some period of time. If not, they may at least lower your rate to something more acceptable to you.

[Ima saver]

Re: What's a reasonable credit card %?

I don't pay any attention to rate because i pay my card of each month. It seems like the lowest I have ever gotten was about 7.9% Of course, I had the 0% when i did carry a balance.

[normanleonard]

Re: What's a reasonable credit card %?

0% annually is the best card and only card i use. You need a credit score above 790 though.

[living_in_oz]

Re: What's a reasonable credit card %?

Thanks guys! This helps a lot. I need to be very firm, I guess. This isn't easy for me!

[disneysteve]

Re: What's a reasonable credit card %?

I don't pay any attention to rate because i pay my card of each month.

Same here. I honestly have no idea what the rates are on my cards.

[MonkeyMama]

Re: What's a reasonable credit card %?

Same here. I honestly have no idea what the rates are on my cards.

Agreed.

When I saw the title I thought to myself 0%!!!! LOL. Wouldn't pay more.

[Broken Arrow]

Re: What's a reasonable credit card %?

Heh. Same here.

It's a nice feeling to not have to worry about it.

[simpleyme]

Re: What's a reasonable credit card %?

I never pay interest either but I wont use my cards with high rates ever

citi bank raised my rate by a partial percent it ticked me of so I called them and asked them to lower it ,they said no so I paid it off and have not used it since

[living_in_oz]

Re: What's a reasonable credit card %?

Well, I called the credit card company(Chase) and they would only come down 1% That's fine I guess. It's their loss because I'm transfering to a 0% offer. Of course, I'll have to pay a transfere fee(which was I was hoping Chase would come down). But the fee will pay for itself in 2 months. Now, I just have to decide which credit card offer I want to use!

[vishenda]

Re: What's a reasonable credit card %?

Those sound like great rates - check out www.bankrate.com for a search-able database of credit cards to see whats out there and call your bank. They will give you what they have available, but it sounds like you are doing pretty good.

The 0% and 3.9% are short term teaser rates good for probably less than 6 mos. It might be worthwhile to transfer your balances every 6 mos or so to keep these low rates, but that takes a lot of work and its worthwhile unless you have more than a few thousand dollars in debt.

Good luck!

[living_in_oz]

Re: What's a reasonable credit card %?

Actually, most of the offers with the teaser rates are good for anywhere from 1 year to 18 months. I plan on having them paid off by then. I just hate opening new credit card accounts. I don't like messing with my credit score. But, it'll save me quite a bit of money.

I might just go ahead and pay them off. I've not done that because I don't want to take my money out of savings. I know it's very easy NOT to put that money back in. But, if it's costing me money, that's not smart either. I guess I'm undecided....

[creditnet]

Re: What's a reasonable credit card %?

I'm also a "pay-in-full" cardholder... BUT if you can get a 0% "loan" from a credit card company, then by all means, take advantage of it. Actually, there are a large number of cards out there with promotional 0% interest offers for 12 months, such as Discover Platinum, Chase Platinum, Citi Platinum Select. American Express Blue offers a 4.99% rate for the life of the balance transfer if you expect to take more than 1 year to pay off your debt.