Protect the Credit You Have

Be proactive rather than reactive with your credit card accounts when you are facing hardships. Don’t wait until the credit card company jacks up your rates and you can no longer pay your bills. Call them and negotiate before you are late with your bill, or broke. The better your credit is, the more negotiable the credit card companies are. If a health crisis arises or you are laid off, call your creditors, explain the situation to them and work out a plan with them. Ask what your options are.

Here are some things that I have successfully negotiated with credit card companies.

1. Your due date can be changed. They won’t change it for the current bill, but it can be changed for future bills. This is helpful if you change jobs and will be getting paid at a different time during the month, or you have too many bills due at the same time of the month.
2. Request a lower interest rate.
   • If you have an offer to transfer your balance to a new credit card, it would be better to call up your current company and negotiate with them. Tell them about the offer you have and let them make you a counter offer, rather than have new credit cards or balance transfers on your credit report. Besides, there are usually fees if you transfer a balance.
   • If you always pay your bills on time and you are late on one, request that they set your interest rate back to the rate you were at before your payment was late. They may give you the benefit of the doubt at least once. Don’t abuse this because they will make a note of it in your record.
3. If you go over your limit, make a payment that will bring the card back below the limit, then ask the company to remove the over-the-limit fee.

Above all else, remember that attitude counts for a lot. If you want people to work with you, you must be willing to work with them.