“Dear Steve,
Recently had to take a 30% decrease in my Income, due to this I have maxed out my wells fargo credit card, they also just raised the percentage to 13.44%,
Can I negotiate a 50-70% deduction of my Credit card balance and pay it off with out it effecting my credit? can i get them to reduce my rate to 5% like my 2nd mortage? can i take 10K of this card and add it to my 2nd? my payement for this card is now 471.00 monthly?
Roger”
The Answer:
Dear Roger,
No, no, and no.
Any time you repay less than you owe it will hurt your credit report, lower your credit score and leave you with a big potential tax liability.
There is no incentive for the lender to reduce your interest rate. If you want to see if a creditor might lower the rate while in a credit counseling program, the click here for credit counseling information.
These days a 13.44% interest rate in a credit card is a good rate.
Besides a credit counseling program to reduce the interest rate, if you have a credit score above 660 you could checkout LendingClub.com for a fixed rate unsecured debt consolidation loan or bankruptcy to discharge the debt and turn it into 0% debt.
If you have a credit or debt question you’d like to ask just use the online form. I’m happy to help you totally for free.