For some background, I pay off my credit card balances in full and have a credit score above 800. But whether you have credit card debt or not, it doesn’t hurt to ask for a lower interest rate.

Although I’m able to pay my bills right now, the future is uncertain. This is part of my plan for a possible recession.

After gathering five of my credit cards from different issuers, I reached out to them using the number on the back of the card or through live chat on their official websites. Here’s the sample script I used:

“I’ve been following the news about the coronavirus and am asking for help. I’m not currently facing a hardship, but I wanted to see if you had any offers for a lower interest rate. Is there anything that you can do for me?”

It took me about 45 minutes to call or chat with all five of the credit card issuers: American Express, Chase, Citi, Discover and Wells Fargo.

Three of the companies lowered my interest rates. The best offer was from Discover, which gave me 0% APR for 12 months on purchases. The normal APR on my Discover it card is 21.49%.

Here was the result with each of the issuers:

American Express: 3% APR reduction on purchases
Chase: No offer provided
Citi: 3.99% APR on purchases until 10/2020
Discover: 0% APR on purchases for 12 months
Wells Fargo: No offer provided

Of course, the offers that you receive may be different. Discover told me that they were able to provide 0% APR for 12 months on purchases for my loyalty, not because of the coronavirus pandemic.

If you decide to call and try this yourself, my advice is to use the number on the back of your credit card for faster service.

Credit card companies have special programs in place for times like these. If you need to have a late fee waived or a payment deadline extended, reach out for help. You have nothing to lose!

NOTE: Article Source

That's cool sir, I have had the interest on my chase card reduced in the past, but it's only 9. something now. My credit score is very close to 800 as well.
Haven't had my Bank Of the West card long enough to ask but maybe if I try your trick. There is no chance Amazon will reduce their interest but it was free for a year and I just recently started paying interest on that one. So yeah it never hurts to ask. I used to keep them paid off like you but ran my Chase card up up to nearly 10k ($27,000 limit) a few years ago rebuilding a rental.

On all my accounts together I still owe about 2k, but they are getting smaller every month. Now if I could just stop with the online buying. It's so easy with credit. I had a Citi card for quite a while but they dropped me for not using it enough.

I use mostly the one account that I get the best CASH rewards for most of my online purchases ...
The others I spread out with autopay (Netflix, Hulu, Etc) ... And one high-limit card if I ever really need it ...

I'm pretty good about only buying what I have the money for ...
OR, if I buy something with a card, I put the money aside in the account I pay it from ...
Sometimes, if it's over $99 (where most cards start your "rewards"), I'll use it and then pay it off over 2 months or so ...

My credit is 762+760+754 ...
It works for me; so far ...

I tried to get a more recent credit score for ya but the Chase website is a piece of shit and keeps dumping me back to the main page.
Humm maybe I should try a different browser.

BTW drinking PBR today .bitches

How do you like the Discover card so far?

I get so many offers from them to sign up. They used to send me little American flag stickers, I put them on my bike, the Specialized Hard Rock that was stolen from the AA hall many years ago now. 

Did A-S ever offer stickers?
Maybe an L-G sticker would be a good idea?

A-S did, LG thought about it (as did TSi) ...

Discover has given me no issues whatsoever ...
In fact, I initially transferred a $7k balance over to them, and they extended
my "Interest free balance transfer" time from 2 years to 30 months (2.5) automatically ...
I still paid it off within (less than) 2 years, however, I thought it was nice of them to do for paying more than
necessary every month (I'm guessing the wanted me to slow down and eventually hit the "interest zone"; I just never did ...

They hate that but what are they gonna do.
Cancel you? Umm maybe?

That actually sounds like a good deal. I should have probably transferred my balances to a throw away card with low interest.

Doesn't mater much now. 

It saved me HUNDREDS in interest charges ...
Which doesn't matter to me since I only keep the debt long enough to register on my credit and then pay it off ...

But, if I had let it go to term, it would have been A LOT of money in just interest alone ....
I don't mind if it does end up charging me a few bucks .... But not 20+% ...

I found out the interest on my Amazon Store card is fucking 27%. Good thing I have it down to $300 something. I only started paying interest so not a big deal, if I pay the balance off soon.

Yeah, it's fucking ridiculous ....
It's why I only let things go for a couple of months ...

Fuck all that noise ...

Received my latest statement from Amazon, the ballance is now over $600 fucking dollars? I called them up and ripped "Tony" from India a new asshole.

Seems the account wasn't free interest for a year as I thought but deferred interest. Well they agreed to give me 30 days grace but now I have to pay the balance of what I still actually owe on this current payment. Otherwise they are adding on retroactive interest for the entire fucking past year all at once.

WTF is that shit?
It's yet another way they get you "deferred interest" ...
Read as: We still get it from you; on the BACK END of the payments ....