Credit card APRs....

[yg17]

I'm curious....what's a decent interest rate on a credit card? My Chase Amazon Visa was something like 17.99% and I called them and asked for a reduction and they reduced it to 14.99% (easier than I thought it would be to get it reduced!). My HSBC Mastercard is 20.49%, and I called and asked for a reduction, the CSR I talked to told me they couldn't reduce it. I wasn't in the mood at the time to escalate to a supervisor and all that, so I'm going to try again eventually when I have the time and patience for that crap. But on average, what's a good APR, because I'm wondering if I can talk either of them down some more. I don't have bad credit, I just don't have a lot of it. I don't carry balances either, so it really isn't an issue, but I'd like to have the lowest APR possible in case an emergency came up and I had to charge something and pay it off.

Also, would asking for (and receiving) a credit limit increase hurt my credit in any way? I wouldn't mind a higher limit either, you know, just in case, but I'm going to be financing a car in about 3 months and don't want to be turned down or stuck with a crappy rate because I have more available credit or something like that.

Thanks.

 

[adk]

Getting a higher credit limit will actually help your credit because part of your score is how big of a percentage of your limit your balance is (obviously, lower is better).

As for your APR, I found this chart on bankrate.com:

National credit card rates
WEEKLY AVERAGES
TYPE FIXED VARIABLE
Standard 13.37% 14.52%
Gold 11.73% 13.16%
Platinum 10.32% 13.84%

 

[yg17]

Thanks. I may request an increase then.

So I guess 14.9% isn't too terrible for a 21 year old without much credit (the Chase card was my first card and the first thing besides student loans that I applied for). I definitely want to try to work with HSBC though

 

[LethalWolfe]

IIRC asking for a credit increase will ding your FICO score.


Lethal

 

[strider42]

IIRC asking for a credit increase will ding your FICO score.


Lethal

It might temporarily as they pull your credit report in some cases (though in some, if you've had the card for a while and never asked for an increase, they'll just give you a certain amount), and initiating a credit check can have a minor affect on your score because it looks like you are looking for a lot o credit all of a sudden. But its a really minor impact (assuming you don't continously do it onall your cards) and won't last long. In the long run, it is better to have a higher credit limit that you don't utilize. As a previous poster said, percentage of credit utilized is a big part of the score. Asking for a credit increase isn't a bad idea if it makes sense for you to have more credit just in case, or if you've just outgrown the current limit.

But if you get more credit and then just max it out, you are really going to hurt your credit score.

 

[yg17]

It might temporarily as they pull your credit report in some cases (though in some, if you've had the card for a while and never asked for an increase, they'll just give you a certain amount), and initiating a credit check can have a minor affect on your score because it looks like you are looking for a lot o credit all of a sudden. But its a really minor impact (assuming you don't continously do it onall your cards) and won't last long. In the long run, it is better to have a higher credit limit that you don't utilize. As a previous poster said, percentage of credit utilized is a big part of the score. Asking for a credit increase isn't a bad idea if it makes sense for you to have more credit just in case, or if you've just outgrown the current limit.

But if you get more credit and then just max it out, you are really going to hurt your credit score.

Thanks.

So would you recommend also requesting a limit increase for my 2 cards to give my FICO score a bit of a boost before I finance a car? Or will it just cancel out the negativeness of the CC companies possibly running my credit?

Neither of the cards have balances, so whether my credit limit is 5 dollars or 5 thousand dollars, 0% of my available credit is used, so in that case, would it even make any difference?

 

[TheMonarch]

Part of your credit score depends on how you handle your card balances, so always having 0% credit usage isn't doing any good either.

 

[yg17]

Part of your credit score depends on how you handle your card balances, so always having 0% credit usage isn't doing any good either.

Wow....you just can't win with these FICO guys, can you?

 

[savar]

Getting a higher credit limit will actually help your credit because part of your score is how big of a percentage of your limit your balance is (obviously, lower is better).

It helps your credit score, but it reduces your chance of getting another credit card.

 

[savar]

Wow....you just can't win with these FICO guys, can you?

Haha, it's true. FICO is weird and arbitrary. I compare it to the quarterback passer efficiency rating in american football. The internals of it are complex and intentionally obscured, yet as far as I'm aware there's nothing scientific or "proven" about their method.

Anyway, I've heard that carrying a small balance (like $50-100) every month improves your credit rapidly. At the end of the year you're only paying a few $$ in interest, and it might save you a lot of money when it comes time to finance a larger purchase (car/house).

 

[Cromulent]

No point in asking for a credit limit increase. I got a credit card when I was 18 and ever since then they keep raising the limit (about once a year) by £1,000. Kinda annoying really, plus now I get tons of letters offering me loans and god knows what else.

 

[yetanotherdave]

Part of your credit score depends on how you handle your card balances, so always having 0% credit usage isn't doing any good either.

Wow....you just can't win with these FICO guys, can you?

When you make a purchase like an iPod, a mac, or something relatively large, pay by your credit card. Then pay the balance within your interest free time limit (usually about 60 days). That will help your score a lot as you will be borrowing frequently and always paying it back. You also wont incur any interest.

 

[strider42]

Haha, it's true. FICO is weird and arbitrary. I compare it to the quarterback passer efficiency rating in american football. The internals of it are complex and intentionally obscured, yet as far as I'm aware there's nothing scientific or "proven" about their method.

Anyway, I've heard that carrying a small balance (like $50-100) every month improves your credit rapidly. At the end of the year you're only paying a few $$ in interest, and it might save you a lot of money when it comes time to finance a larger purchase (car/house).

The thing is that there is nothing arbitraty about it. its a formula. If you know the ins and outs of it, its not a big thing. (I guess like a quarterback rating. there's a formula there too you know. its not arbitrary). There is something scientific about it; its a risk assesment. Its based on averages that they hope will predict you being able to pay them back. They wouldn't make money if didn't do a half way decent job. Its not perfect, but it work for their purposes went spread over the population.

carrying a balance will get you credit increase raised quickly, cause they know they will make money off of you. But if you want a good credit score (a different thing) you need to pay off the amount every month in full, a long history of good credit, and regulate how much credit you have against how much you use. This stuff is pretty accessible out there. Doa gogole search and you can learn a lot about it. Whatever you do, do not acrry a balance every month. You are just throwing money away if you do that when you don't have to.

 

[shu82]

If you are carrying a balance. I would recommend you do a no interest balance transfer. I did one and it has saved me hundreds. I timed it so I can pay off the balance with my tax return before the no interest period ends. Having a balance is only good to the creditors. I think showing that you can turn over debt quickly also helps your score.