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How To Lower My Credit Card Payments

Posted January 25th, 2010 and last modified June 30th, 2010
HSBC Credit Card

Featured No Annual Fee Credit Card

The HSBC Credit Card awards those who always pay their credit card balance in full each month. This card features a $0 annual fee for the life of the card plus 55 days interest free meaning it will cost you nothing to use this card provided you pay your balance in full each month.

  • $0 annual fee
  • 17.99% p.a. on purchases
  • 0% p.a. for 6 months with 2% handling fee on balance transfers
  • Cash Advance Rate of 21.99% p.a.
  • 55 days interest free
  • Minimum Income Requirement of $20,000 p.a.
  • Minimum income requirement of $20,000 needed to apply

Find out how to lower credit card payments by arming yourself with the relevant information. Understand that your provider will be amenable to changing your rates to keep you as a customer, and that there are other great deals on the market if your current provider does not offer what you want.

Anyone currently carrying a credit card debt that persists from month to month should be interested in how to lower credit card payments. It is quite natural to feel a little vulnerable when you have a credit card debt, but this does not mean you are powerless. There are several avenues to explore to help you lower credit card payments, and you certainly shouldn’t feel that you must suffer paying high rates of interest until your debt is fully repaid. Just the simple act of reducing your interest rate can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars over the life of the debt, depending on its size and how long it takes you to pay it off.

Here the steps you can take to enjoy lower credit card payments:

Assess your current payments

This means collating all the details of the credit cards you own, including annual fees, interest rates, and any other fees or penalty charges. These need to be ordered from the most expensive to the least expensive. Credit cards that are more expensive to run, if you are not owing money on them, should perhaps be cut up to avoid the possibility that you will fall foul of their charges at a future date.

Research to see how the market looks

Those credit cards you do owe money on you must assess based on what else is currently available. Unless you take this step, you will not know for sure if your goal to lower credit card payments is realistic. If you currently have the best deal on the market, there may be little you can do but make financial cutbacks to attack the debt more quickly.

The best way to assess the market is via a comparison of the current offers being made by all the various credit card companies. This is a simple task nowadays via comparison sites, but it is something that very few consumers actually bother to do, therefore missing out. There are deals to be had that waive annual credit card fees for life, have introductory offers on cheap balance transfers, and offer purchase interest rates around the 10% mark. Although you may not quite find all these on one credit card, some do provide an excellent combination that comes very close to the perfect deal.

Talk to your provider

Armed with the information gathered from the comparison site, you are now in a position to approach your credit card provider to see if you can get lower credit card payments. This will involve a little subtle blackmail, with you suggesting you may well transfer your allegiance to another provider if they do not co-operate and lower your rates. How much you ask for will depend on how cheeky you feel, but you will know when you have found their limit because they will suggest you do indeed take your custom elsewhere. If necessary, ask to speak with a manager so that you can be assured you are being offered the best deal. Your provider will not want to lose your custom, so they should be willing to do something for you, no matter how small.

Take your business elsewhere

It is always a possibility that to lower credit card payments most effectively, you may have to make a credit card application to another provider who is offering an introductory deal on balance transfers. If you can also secure a lower annual fee and a low regular interest rate on purchases, so much the better.

Check out today's featured offers:

Westpac Low Rate Citibank Clear Platinum Qantas AMEX Discovery ANZ Platinum
Westpac Low Rate Card St George Vertigo American Express Qantas Discovery Card ANZ Platinum Credit Card

0% p.a. for 6 months

on purchases & balance transfers

2.9% p.a. for 12 months
on balance transfers

$0 annual fee

Up to 10,000 Bonus QFF Points

0% p.a. for 6 months on

purchases & balance transfers

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