by Ashley
Arrrrgh, I am SO MAD at Wells Fargo!
As you may recall, I recently paid off my Capital One credit card (which had been my highest APR), and have moved onto focusing on my Wells Fargo credit card (my second highest APR).
A few days ago I received a credit card offer from another bank. It offered 0% APR as an introductory rate for the first 24 months. To be clear, IN NO WAY do I want to open a new credit card account. But I thought maybe I could use this letter as leverage. I called Wells Fargo to see if I could negotiate a lower interest rate.
I’ve read advice on how to approach the subject, and I tried to reason with them.
“Hi! I’ve been with you guys for over a decade and really like you! But I just got this 0% APR offer for 24 months. Can you match this deal on my current credit card or, if not, do anything to lower my current APR?”
What should have been a simple call turned into a total nightmare!
I was transfered multiple times. At first, they tried to send me to the sales department, so they could get me a new credit card with an introductory APR (to which I respond “No, I don’t want a new credit card. If I were to do that, I’d just go with this other bank’s offer.”)
Then eventually I’m just told “No, we do not lower APRs….ever.”
Ummm, excuse me? Never? What are you talking about? You don’t do periodic credit reviews and adjust APR as a result? I know my APR was hiked up in the past (as a result of one of these reviews), you never lower it again when credit improves????
“Can I talk to a manager?”
*Another transfer and loooooong wait*
Finally…I’m talking to the person who can make some decisions!
And, again, I’m told no. There is nothing they can do.
GRRRRRRRR!!!!!! I swear I was on the phone close to an hour by the time everything was said and done!
There is one thing that jumped out as interesting. One of the people I spoke with had said something that indadvertedly implied that maybe something could be done if I went into an actual branch. I could be reading into the conversation because she certainly wasn’t giving me advice or trying to help me out, but during our conversation about “how on Earth do you never lower APRs? I swear this has been done before!?!” One of the girl’s replies was something along the lines of “No, never, not as long as I’ve worked here. Maybe if you’ve gone to a branch they could’ve lowered your APR in the past??” It was more of a question than a statement, but still….
I’m tired of my efforts resulting in wasted time (Exhibit A: Trying to negotiate credit card APR; Exhibit B: Trying to negotiate lower medical bills), but this APR is so outrageously high that it could be worthwhile to go into a branch if it actually makes a difference (and has the potential to be extra-frustrating if it results in nothing).
Has anyone else had SUCCESS getting a credit card company to lower your APR? Is there any difference if you go into the branch as opposed to calling the company? Advice? Tips?
Edited to add:
So many people are saying I should take the 0% offer that I wanted to say something further….
The offer was one of those mass offers that lots of people get. They would still have to run my credit to see if I qualify (and I may not). Also, I’m trying not to run my credit right now because I want to try to refinance my car loan for a lower APR in the next month or two. Last March when we bought the car our credit was dinged from multiple inquiries (shopping around to get the car – I’ve always heard you have a 72-hour window to shop around, but our credit still took a hit regardless). So I’m trying to avoid having my credit run right now.
I love the advice and suggestions! Given this information, would you still suggest I apply for the 0% card?? Should I wait until after I try to refinance the car? Not sure if those offers expire??
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizonan on paper, Texan at heart. Lover of running, blogging, and all things cheeeeese. Freshly 40, married mother of two, working in academia. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-digit student loan debt!
I’ve had the same bad luck trying to get my rate lowered with Capital One. It jumped from 15% to 19.8% a few years ago for no reason (never late, always on time, rarely carried a balance before then.) I called and they told me too bad, so sad. My husband called and they lowered his from 19% to 14.8% and all he did was talk to the first rep that answered the phone. I was so mad!! I’ve had no luck lowering it, but of course they’re more than willing to let me apply for a new card.
The entire time I had CapOne they never once lowered my APR (they said I was welcome to call and ask, which I did on about a quarterly basis. Never helped.)
Hi – while I don’t advocate getting another card usually, I would seriously consider this offer. If your interest rate is very high (I don’t recall your specifics), it may save you some serious $$$ in the long run. I had one several years ago where the interest alone was over $200.00 a month. I switched and never looked back. In my budget, $200.00 a month was HUGE and I liked the idea of the money actually being paid going towards principal. I would get the 0% interest card, pay off Wells Fargo immediately and then cut that card up and move on. Many people find themselves in a deeper hole if they continue to use credit cards, but I believe you have the determination to make this situation work to your advantage. Good luck!
The problem is, it was one of those mass offers – who knows if I would even be approved for the 0% (sometimes they send the offer, then you don’t qualify). Also, I’m really trying to avoid having my credit run. We bought our car one year ago and pulled our credit multiple times when shopping around for a car loan. It dinged our credit and I’m planning to go in the next couple months to try to refinance the car for a lower APR, so I don’t want to run it additional times (which could lower our credit and lead to a higher APR).
For reference – details on how much I owe and at what interest rate are here:https://www.bloggingawaydebt.com/2014/04/ashleys-debt-update/
I agree with Mary. Get the 0% card, transfer the money, cut up the Wells Fargo card, then pay off the new card as fast as you can.
Don’t fall into this trap though – don’t be tempted to then put the new card to the bottom of your priority pile – “oh, it’s at 0% so I’ll pay something else off first”, and in 24 months you’ll still have this card and will then be paying interest on it which negates the whole point of the transfer!
If you’re going to go thru the hassle of the transfer, then pay it off asap – just my advice!
I’ve only had luck negotiating back to a prior interest rate. In my worst days, I missed a payment and got the penalty APR of 24.99 percent…up from 7.24 percent…on a 7k balance. Anyway, I called and they gave me PLENTY of runaround, and I eventually got lucky and got them to bounce it back down to 9.24 percent (still wouldn’t give the 7.24, they said they don’t offer that rate anymore??). I tried my other cards that didn’t have the penalty APR and some would lower it down a little bit, but only applicable to future purchases, not existing balances, which wouldn’t help me ONE BIT. I would make sure you would save a significant amount of money on interest over the course of how long it will take you to payoff the card (taking the transfer fee into account) and then GO FOR IT.
What’s the transfer fee? 3%? What’s the APR after the 24 months at 0%
Figure out if you can pay off the $7500ish balance on that card within 2 years. Even if you can’t do it out of monthly savings, probably worth dipping into the savings account to finish it off at that time. Should save you $1000+ over the 2 years!
I would take it too. Then I would pay furniture loan, then your 2219 card then hit this one. Your balance is so high and your interest rate is so high. You are committed to this journey.
I would try to get rid of the high interest rate card like other commenters suggested. It will free some money for you to have some breathing room in your budget or to apply towards debt. 24 months at 0% seems like a good deal.
this stinks. it would just motivate me to pay it off faster and be done with them.
No, I’ve never had anyone agree to lower the APR to match another offer. Which is SO DUMB of the banks. DUMB! I honestly think that once Oprah’s debt diet and the Dave Ramsey books started telling people to call and negotiate it down, they started curtailing it. And now that credit is so much tighter, they just flat-out don’t do it.
I agree you should transfer the balance, or a chunk of it, to 0%. Just keep scrupulous records so you can make sure it’s paid off within the window, otherwise the back interest socks you one.
That stinks. You should highly consider the 0% offer, but don’t close your WF account, just keep it open but don’t use the card. Just don’t forget to make sure the 0% account is paid off in time, especially if they charge interest in arears if the balance isn’t paid off, some do some don’t.
You’ll want to figure out how much you’re paying in interest each month and compare it to the potential fee for doing the balance transfer (probably 3%). I would definitely not do this prior to refinancing your car though. Getting that car interest rate down will net you more savings than this credit card – especially if this card is the one you’re actively working on paying down.
Good point(s)!
We’ve been banking with WF for over 20 years. They’re a great bank, but not much in the market to deal with credit risks. Sorry, it’s the plain honest truth. They have some of the tightest standards around NOW for mortgage loans, etc.
Capital One was, is and will always be a predatory lender. I’d be careful doing business with them.
I totally agree about CapOne! I don’t plan on ever using the credit card again. At the same time, I use Capital One 360 for my online savings account. I love the perks they offer (making free sub-accounts, easy auto-transfer, great interest rate for a savings account), but part of me doesn’t want to bank with them just because of my credit card history with them! So torn!
I love Capital one 360! I hated their credit card, and we closed both of the credit cards we had with Capital One.
Don’t get rid of your awesome online banking though – remember it used to be ing direct before capital one bought it – saddest thing ever!
As for the 0% offers, if you’re getting those then you are still meeting some criteria to even land one. Most of those offers don’t actually expire when they say they do, or you can call and they’ll offer it again. So I say wait until after the car refinance.
Thanks for the tip! I threw the offer in our “Junk mail” pile for the recycling, so I’ll have to dig it out and hang onto it. We’re not planning to refinance for probably another month or so. We just barely hit a critical threshold with our debt-to-credit ratio (below 50%), and I want to wait until the credit bureaus have updated our credit report because I think it should help give our credit a little boost and hopefully lead to a lower APR.
I had great success last year during a period of unemployment to take the Chase Slate card at 0% for 15 months at 0% transfer fee. Really bought me some time. Don’t know if that is an option for you but might be worth looking into.
I think that’s what my offer was! I know it was a Chase card….I’ll have to double check if it was “Slate” or something else. And I didn’t even look at the transfer fee so also something to check out.
Hi! I just got an offer from Capitalone Quicksilver 0% interest and I applied for it. It’s really weird how come some credit card companies don’t offer or lower the APR. I called both companies, one lowered the APR as a good customer and the other was like your experience, they said at the moment they don’t have this kind of offer. That’s why we’re trying to pay it off as soon as possible because the interest eats our budget.