The Wong Ohana

Well, I love it when I can say “I learned something new today”! And that doesn’t happen very often when it comes to playing with Credit Card transfers - I know the game very well, been doing it for a long time - but today I did learn something new, so I thought I’d share - - -

I try to keep all my credit cards “fine tuned” as much as humanly possible. What this means is that I am always on the lookout for better deals, lower rates, etc. So for long periods of time, there is really nothing I can do to improve my situation. I usually have to wait for a balance to get paid down, or a promotional rate to expire before I can do any more tweaking.

Well, that time came for me today. While I was sitting and paying my bills, I noticed that I had a card with a promotional rate ready to expire in a couple of months. What that means for me is that its time to call the Customer Support (800) number on some of my cards and see what offers I can drum up.

You’ll notice that I didn’t say that I got an offer in the mail. While I do get them on a regular basis, this time, I took the initiative and just got out my most recent bill and called them up.

What you want to do is put them in the position of WANTING to make you an offer. This is really quite easy to do if you think about it. What do they want from you? The answer is your business. If you move your money to another company they will no longer be getting your monthly interest. So find one of your credit cards that still has some credit line available - in other words, this won’t work if your card is “maxed out”. Next thing you want to do is to ask “Can you please tell me how much is my pay off amount?” It doesn’t matter if you really want to pay it off or not - you just want them to THINK you are going to pay it off. This typically gets you transferred to the “keep this customer at all costs” Department. The next person you talk to will usually make you a Promotional Offer to stay with them.

If NOT, then you just go to Plan B which is: Tell the person on the line, “What I’m trying to do is to consolidate and eliminate as many of my bills as possible. Therefore, I either have to pay off YOUR card and move it somewhere else, or perhaps I could transfer some of my other debt to THIS card?” This definitely lets them know you are looking for a good rate.

Now here is where it got very interesting today! All of this is very common, and I’ve done it successfully many times before, but what happened today took me by surprise!

A little background is necessary here. Step into the WayBack machine and go back 2 weeks or so. I have a little photo printer that requires special paper, and I find the best place to buy it is from Amazon.com. Nothing complicated there, done it before But when I got to their site, I saw an offer for their VISA card. It said, “Sign up now and get $30″. Well, interesting enough, my purchase was going to be $30, and I’m not an idiot, so naturally I filled in their on-line form and signed up for a VISA card. Now, I certainly don’t need another credit card, and actually I have no intention of ever using this card - BUT it now looks like I can get my printer paper and ink for FREE just for the time it takes to fill out the form, so I did it. I ordered my ink, it arrived, all was well with the world. Never thought twice about it.

Now jump back into the time machine and come forward to today - - - I’m on the phone with my Credit Card company - NO CONNECTION to Amazon.com AT ALL. I’m talking CitiBank Credit Card Customer Service - I don’t think they’re affiliated with Amazon, I could be wrong, I really don’t know??

Now I’m talking to the Customer Service guy and asking about what offers he can give me and I find he is willing to give me 4.9% till the balance is paid in full - VERY ATTRACTIVE offer! He now has my full attention - - - so I go ahead with my negotiating. I said, “This is a very good offer, and I’d love to take advantage of it, BUT my credit line is only $5,000 and I already have half of it used, so I can’t really transfer that much over - I’m wondering if you can help me out?” My thought was that maybe he’d approve an increase in my credit limit by $1,000 or so????

This is where it got interesting - - - Now remember in another thread where I stated that you’d better be prepared and have all of your information in front of you BEFORE you start your negotiations because THEY certainly will? You’ll never believe what he said to me?????

“I see you have a VISA with Amazon.com”. Surprised, I respond, “Well, why yes I do” - - - hmmmmmm that didn’t take long, I just received my product in the mail a couple of days ago???? THEN, he said something that FLOORED ME! He said, “I see that your Amazon credit limit was approved for $10,000″. I had NO CLUE!!!! I haven’t even received my first bill in the mail yet! Then he said something that KNOCKED ME EVEN FURTHER off my chair!! Are you ready for this????

He said, “Since I wouldn’t be increasing your credit line at all, I could, with your permission, move that credit line over to your CitiBank card”. He was offering to LOWER the credit line on my new Amazon card that I haven’t even received in the mail yet, that I had no intention of ever using, and RAISE the credit line on my existing CitiBank card! I almost couldn’t speak! I could barely get the “OK” out of my mouth in an audible tone!

Then, since I figured he was on a roll, I asked if he could transfer it to my checking account instead of another credit card, since I wanted to pay off a couple of different cards, but didn’t want to pay multiple balance transfer fees, and he said, “sure, that’s easy”!

I swear I thought I was in a DREAM! I just got $10,000 transfered to my checking account that should arrive in 3 business days for an interest rate of 4.9% until the balance is paid in full! That’s better than my Home Equity Line of Credit, better than my Credit Union - heck that’s an incredible offer! Now all I have to do is sit down and look at my spreadsheet and figure out which debt would be most advantageous to pay down first. I’m still in a bit of shock!

I’ve never heard of getting an unsolicited offer to move a credit line from one credit card to another! Add this to my arsenal of financial management tools!!! You KNOW I’ll be requesting this service again in the not too distant future!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention - - - The balance transfer fee “cap” that was quoted was much higher than any other card I have, and when I expressed dissatisfaction about this (not too much, though, I didn’t want him to pull the offer!), he said that while he couldn’t do anything about the rate PRIOR to making the transfer, that if I waited until AFTER the transfer was complete, I could call back and they would reduce the rate down to a more reasonable amount. You can bet your bottom dollar that my calendar is marked with a reminder to call back, AND the phone number!!!

Even if you haven’t gotten any offers in the mail or don’t quite know how to get started, or who to call, don’t let that stop you! Get out your latest credit card bill. There will be an (800) Customer Service Number on it. That’s the number to call. Like I’ve said before - EVERYTHING is NEGOTIABLE!! Now get out there and start negotiating some better rates! It could be yours for the asking, but in order to get it, you have to ASK FOR IT first!

Whew! What a day today was! Very Exciting!

Filed under: Credit Card DOs and DON'Ts, Personal Finances on January 14th, 2008