It never hurts to ask
Posted on July 14th, 2008 – 12:34 PMBy Kara McGuire
It’s no secret. I have too many credit cards, opened to receive certain rewards or take advantage of limited time only offers. It has actually improved my credit score, which is now around 780. But it is hard to manage my wallet full of plastic.
Recently, I received an automatic phone call from GE Card Services, the company that administers the Gap store credit card. The robot kindly asked me to give them a call. I ignored it.
The next day, a bill came in the mail for my balance plus a late fee and finance charge. In total, I’d paid about $30 for my absent-mindedness.
I couldn’t believe that I’d forgotten to pay, but sure enough, no record existed of an automatic bill pay from my checking account.
So I called the Gap. I had no good excuse and decided to come clean. I told the customer service rep that I thought I’d paid my bill but hadn’t. Since I’ve been a good customer, I hoped he would reverse the late fee. Within seconds he agreed. Not only that, but within seconds, without argument, he reversed the finance charge as well.
The story acts as a reminder that it never, ever, hurts to ask. And if he’d have said no, it never, ever hurts to ask for a supervisor.
Have any negotiating strategies that have helped you lower your interest rate or waive fees?
And here’s an excerpt from Scott Bilker’s book “Talk Your Way Out of Credit Card Debt.”
2 Responses to "It never hurts to ask"
You’re absolutely right, it never hurts to ask. One time I mailed the envelope with my bill, but forgot and had left the check still in my checkbook. One quick phone call and it was taken care of. (I’ve since switched to online bill pay).
Yup, online bill pay is the way to go, and automatic withdrawals, even better - although it’s not always the easiest to set up (without late fees and finance charges, the credit companies don’t make any money off you!). But if you’re a good customer, you can frequently get rid of both of those if you just ask and it’s an isolated incident. I had a similar payment happen to me. Since it was the first in oh, 5 years or so, it was wiped no problem.
Good luck trying that if you make late payments every month, though.
