How to Lower the Interest Rate on Your Credit Cards

In this article today I would like to discuss several tips, tricks, and techniques that just about anybody can use to substantially lower the interest rate that you pay on your credit cards. Times are tough for just about everybody across the board. The recession that started towards the end of 2008 and continued on well into 2010 has decimated opening credit cards many families across the country. People are finding it harder to keep their jobs and the unemployment rate just keeps climbing. Credit card debt is also rising as a result of all this and many people have discovered that their interest rates just keep climbing. Congress enacted a law that's supposed to help consumers against credit cards, but there are also several other things that you can do to help lower the interest rates that you pay on your card debt and that's what I would like to talk about in this article today. The first thing that you should do is to obtain a copy of your credit report. You can get this for free by calling any of the three major credit reporting companies; Trans Union, Experian, or Equifax. You should review the report for any inaccuracies because they can be common. For instance if somebody else in your family has your name like your father or grandfather, chances are pretty high that your credit reports may have been mixed up in the past. The next thing you can do is begin to manage your credit cards. There are many different things you can do when it comes to managing cards but the first thing you should do is reduce the number of open credit cards that you have. The more cards you have, the higher risk you look to the credit card companies. Pay down any cards that you can, but if you can't pay them down try to consolidate them into a few credit cards using balance transfers. Balance transfers have the added benefit that they usually offer lower interest rates for a short-term periods such as three months to six months and sometime longer. Once you have consolidated all of your card debt on to as few cards as possible, and once you have closed down as many cards as you can, begin to steadily pay off your credit card debt by paying as much as you can on the remaining cards that you have for several months. Once you have a record of 3 to 6 months of paying down your debt, and a history of closing cards that you no longer use, call up the card company and ask them to lower your interest rate. If they don't lower your interest rate, threatening to transfer your balance to another card. So there you have several very simple tips, tricks, and tactics that you can use to lower your credit card interest rate and pay down your debt quicker.