It's an ABC2 News investigation that's already worked to save money for some and it can work for you too. All it takes is a phone call to your credit card company. ABC2 News Investigator Joce Sterman shows you how a few minutes on the horn can make a big difference when it comes to your interest rate.
We set the stage and handed over all the tools, hoping to help you find relief when it comes to the pain squeezing you right in the wallet. Baltimore resident Tom Fan says, "I think everybody's using their credit cards a lot more now." And we know the debt from those little plastic cards weighs a lot. That's why we decided to help you lighten the load, by testing a simple script designed to get credit card companies to cut your interest rate.
To accomplish our mission, we set up a table at a local mall, handed over our phones and let customers try the simple sentences we supplied from a script that's making the rounds on the internet. The goal? Get the credit card companies to chop down what you’re paying in interest. And in many cases, the companies did help, dropping interest rates for nearly half of the people who tried the script.
Philip Dickerson was one of the customers who gave the script a try. After reading the script, a customer service agent dropped his interest rate from 15.15 percent down to 14.9 percent. It’s a small change, but Dickerson says it all adds up so he’s happy we had him make the call. He told us, “It worked, it worked. Every little bit helps, so this is good."
Good for some, but not for everyone who practiced our lines. Customers who got denied at first were told not to take no for an answer, but to go higher up the chain and try the script again. But even that didn't always work. Wanda Johnson tried that route but was turned down. She says, "They said that's the lowest rate they can offer." The lowest rate sometimes out of reach, but if you never ask, you'll never know that for sure.
The Script
Hi. My name is _____________. I’m a good customer, but I have received several offers in the mail from other companies with lower annual percentage rates. I really want a lower rate on my card. Can you help me?
**If you’re told NO, ask for a supervisor or an account specialist and read the same script again!!
