Credit Card Secrets

Credit card companies are just like every other business. They exist to make as much money as possible, they have relatively well documented rules and operating procedures and they are willing to comprimise the second point in pursuit of the first.

With that being said, here are 7 unwritten credit card tips that may save you a a few dollars. If you dont learn a single secret or you have a secret of your own, please let me know! Secrets are better when they are shared.

Ask Lower Interest Or To Cut Down On Or Eliminate Fees

The credit card business is a competitive one. Use this to your advantage by asking for what you want. If you made a late payment and were assessed a late payment fee, phone them and request that they take it off. If your interest rate is too high, call them and ask that they reduce it. If they say no, simply tell them that you want to cancel the card or that youll take advantage of a new credit card promotions that you just received in the mail.

They make so much money from you when you spend via the charging the merchants a processing fee) that the late fee pales in comparison to the money they will make by keeping you as a customer.

If they dont budge, punish them by taking your business elsewhere.

Roll credit limits of the same issuer onto fewer cards

This is a popular one with zero percent balance transfer junkies because Citihas a not so often spoken rule of limiting a cardholder to at most three lines of credit (without regard to the actual dollar limit). This stinks for balance transfer arbitragers because they want to keep rolling that 0% balance from card to card to card and that gets dicey if they can only have three. One way of getting around this rule is to ask that you roll the credit limits of one of the cards into another one of the credit cards. They are usually willing to do this because the alternative is that you may cancel the card and they would lose your business.

Since they were willing to give you the total limit in the first place, putting it on two credit cards instead of three hardly makes a difference to them. This has an added gain for you from a credit score perspective, you reduce the number of open lines of credit while keeping your credit utilization and total credit limit the same. Double win!

Ask For an increase to the credit limit without a credit pull

Ive written about how you can demand a credit limit increase in the past and not get a credit pull but I wanted to repeat it in a post like this because its something not a lot of folks know. What you basically do is, through your online credit card account management portal, go through the normal process of requesting a credit limit or line of credit increase. Sometimes, based on how long youve been with the issuer and your credit worthiness, they may offer you an increase on the spot without a credit inquiry. Do not bother trying this within the 1st six months or 1st year with the card, they generally wont offer this without a credit pull so youd just be wasting your time.

Avoid the foreign transaction fee charge

When you pay for something overseas, your credit card will often charge you a foreign transaction fee to handle the foreign exchange process for you. In fact, part of that fee is imposed by Visa and MC itself, so any Visa and MC that charges you less than 1% is actually eating the fee.

Capital One and Discover are the only two companies that do not charge a foreign transaction fee; Capital One actually pays the fee for you and Discover, since its not on the Visa or MC network, just doesnt charge for it. As I wrote in the other article, if you want to pick between the two then Id go with Capital One cause Discover isnt as widely accepted overseas (Capital One cards are Visa or MC).

Change your card to a different type or rewards program

Do you have a Citibank Platinum Select card and you would instead prefer to have a Citibank Professional card? Just call up and ask; theyll probably honor your request. If they dont, just ask to cancel the card and retentions will probably do it for you. This will only work if theyre the same class of cards, so if you want to change from a Citibank mtvU card (student) to a Citi Business card (business), that will probably be impossible but still worth inquiring about. Their reasoning is that you can always cancel and apply for the new card anyway so they might as well reduce overhead by just shifting it over for you. Its all about lowering costs and keeping the customer, converting cards is hardly a job.

Most credit cards double manufacturers warranty

Most credit cards will cover purchases on that card to double the original manufacturers warranty, up to an additional 1 year. This comes at absolutely no cost and its offered cause most people never benefit from it.

Part of the reason is that you often forget this is something that is even offered in the first place due to the fact that most people think of manufacturers warranty first and then straight to repair or replace) and the credit cards only mention this when youre buying. :)

Most credit cards offer auto rental liability insurance

This particular tip has been documented quite a bit recently, the fact that many credit cards offer some form of rental car insurance for collision and loss if you use that card to pay for the rental.

What it doesnt cover your personal auto insurance may also cover so between the two you often dont even need the insurance, really its a waiver from the rental company in the 1st place. Some credit cards, such as Amex, have programs where you can pay for additional insurance.