How to Find the Lowest Credit Card Rates

If you carry a balance on your credit cards, you can save a significant amount of money by finding the lowest credit card rates. If your credit is good, you can apply for low-rate cards and transfer your balances to take advantage of the lower interest. You may even be able to negotiate with your current credit card issuers to get a lower rate on the accounts you already have, based on competitors' offers.

Things You'll Need

• Current credit card interest rate information

Instructions

1. Make a list of the current interest rate on all your open credit card accounts, whether or not you carry a balance. You will use this list to compare low-interest offers from other credit card issuers and make sure you get a low rate.

2. Visit a credit card comparison website such as Bankrate or CreditCards.com that allows you to compare multiple credit card offers. These sites let you choose the feature that is most important to you, so you can select "low interest rate" to find the most relevant offers. You can even narrow your search to cards with special balance transfer offers if you want to transfer balances from existing cards.

3. Make a note of the best special offers. Read all the terms, especially for the cards that have low introductory offers. How long does the introductory period last, and how high will the interest rate rise when that period is over? You need this specific information to know which card is best for you and also to negotiate with your existing card issuers.

4. Call your current card issuers that charge you higher interest rates and ask them to match the deals you have found. Often, they will do so if you have been a long-term customer and have paid your bills on time. This is especially true if you carry a balance and let them know that you are prepared to transfer it to a new card with a better rate if they will not match the offer.

5. If your current card issuers will not match the lower interest rates you found in your search, apply for new cards with better interest rates. If your credit is good, you can open new accounts and transfer your balances over from the higher-interest accounts.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't tear up credit card solicitations that you receive in the mail. Often credit card companies send out applications for special deals, such as 0 percent interest for a year or even for the life of a balance transfer. Review these offers and compare them to your current cards before throwing them away.

• Some credit card companies offer enticing introductory rates, but the rate skyrockets at the end of that period. When you review low-interest credit card offers, read all the details and fine print.

Resources

• Bankrate credit card comparison site
• CreditCards.com comparison site