Want a Lower Credit Card Interest Rate? Try This

If you carry a balance on your credit card, brace yourself: The Fed hiked benchmark interest rates this week by a hefty 0.75% for the third time this year. Currently the average APR on new credit cards is at a staggering 18% — just 1% behind the all-time high, and cardholders can expect to see their current rates rise within the next couple statements. Assuming that cutting up your cards isn't an option, there's still a way to save. Amazingly, a recent survey by LendingTree has found that the majority of people who simply ask for better credit-card terms get them — but less than half of credit-card holders ever negotiate. It also turns out that there's plenty more than a better interest rate that credit-card users can ask for, and stand a good chance of receiving.

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Who wouldn't appreciate a lower interest rate? Asking for a lower credit-card APR can get results — of those who asked, 70% got an adjustment, with an average reduction of 6.9%. But only 15% of cardholders even bothered to ask.

Related: 14 Ways to Improve a Bad Credit Score

Need more spending power? Requesting a higher spending limit meets with success 84% of the time, LendingTree reports, with an average increase of $1,200. But just 24% of cardholders have bothered to ask.

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Most cardholders grumble about annual fees — but it turns out this is negotiable, too. Ninety percent of cardholders who asked for an annual fee waiver or reduction got what they wanted, with 64% getting the fee waived and 26% getting a reduction. Still, only 21% of cardholders asked.

Not paying a credit-card bill on time is a dangerous habit, but it turns out that those late fees aren't set in stone. Surprisingly, cardholders who asked for a late fee to be dropped were successful 82% of the time, saving an average of $26. About 41% of cardholders have asked for this welcome break. 

The following percentages of cardholders successfully asked for these other changes, according to LendingTree:

• Changed payment due date: 73%
• Waived balance transfer fee: 61%
• Waived foreign transaction fee: 58%
• Waived cash advance fee: 53%

According to LendingTree, men consistently ask for credit-card changes more than women. Younger cardholders, both millennials and Generation Z, are also more likely to ask than older cardholders. 

Related: 18 Things Boomers Need to Stop Saying to Millennials About Money

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