About Kathryn Nye Expertise I can answer questions regarding household budgeting, frugal living, debt repayment strategies, debt reduction, collection laws, specific budgeting snafus like reduced income or medical bills or utility problems, budgeting for the self employed or seasonal worker, meal planning, etc. I pride myself on honesty, so if you can`t handle the truth, I am not the right person to ask.
Experience I am a certfied credit counselor with an accredited credit counseling agency and I have operated my own website on this subject since 1996. I am a regular forum leader on the message boards of several major internet websites.
Publications My writings and website have been featured in many ezines and newspapers across the United States. The most recent references were in the Arizona Republic and on the Chick Click website. Many references to my site are in the About.com network.
Question I would like to negotiate to reduce my credit card interest. I have one Visa with $6200. and one Master Card with $2500.00. both have an interest rate of 23.99%. I have a FICO score of 725 and have not been late on any payments since 1998 when I made a drastic career change and was behind on some credit cards. I have never had a bankruptcy or forclosure and had one card turned over to a collection agency which was paid off in 1999. I have asked both credit card companies if I can please lower my interest rate and both have declined my request. Any advice? I did go through CCCS back in the 1998 when all of my payments were behind and paid them off through this agency. Does this show up negatively on my credit report? Is there any chance of getting the interest rate lowered and doesn't it reflect badly to close down accounts? Any advice would be appreciated.
Answer The first thing that pops in my head is that you should look at your credit reports. It doesn't sound like you've done that in a while. And, even though your score isn't bad, it may still be hindered by errors on the reports. That isn't unusual, especially after participating in a Debt Management Plan. Some creditors aren't real diligent about updating after being paid off.
It sounds like you were on a plan with CCCS for a while. If you went through the whole thing, you should have finished sometime between 2001 and 2003. Creditors on a plan decide individually how they will report you on your credit report so that is another reason to check your reports. All bad references stay on record for 7 years. If the last bad references were in 1998, those will fall off this next year.
With a score of 725 and as long as your debt to income ratio is okay, you should be able to get a new credit card with a decent balance transfer rate. The trick is to find one that is fixed for life. Nothing temporary or introductory. If you find that a little difficult right now, wait a few month. Lenders like that tend to loosen some constraints and requirements in October and November for Christmas shoppers. It is a big marketing time of year for them.
