Consumers may have more power than they think when it comes to managing their credit card bills. A new survey from CreditCards.com found most card holders who asked for fees to be waived and higher borrowing limits were successful.
Just picking up the phone may help you save a lot on your credit card bill.
"Really what it comes down to is what my dad likes to say which is that it never hurts to ask because the worst thing that came happen is they'll say no,” said Matt Schulz, CreditCards.com Sr. Industry Analyst. “But if they say yes really good things can happen."
A new survey from creditcards.com finds 85% of cardholders received a higher credit limit when they asked, 84% were able to get a late fee waived, 70% were successful having their annual fee lowered or eliminated and 56% got lower interest rates.
"The reason why people are able to ask so successfully is that the credit card marketplace is incredibly competitive,” said Schulz. “And that competition and people's spending is making banks bend over backwards to keep their customers and to attract new ones"
Schulz said getting an interest rate lowered even a half a percentage point can have a big impact on someone with a lot of debt.
"Far too few people ask for these breaks and we asked people why they don’t ask and the two most common reasons were I didn't know I could and I didn’t think it would be successful,” said Schulz.
The likelihood of being approved increases with education and income levels, but the date from this survey shows consumers don’t have to have perfect credit to negotiate with their credit card companies.
While this survey indicates an overall win for consumers, higher credit limits could be a pathway to more debt for those that use increased spending power to buy things they won't be able to pay off.