How to Reduce Your Royal Bank Visa Card Interest

Your Royal Bank Visa card interest can be adjusted if you are persuasive.

Royal Bank Visa credit cards are offered through Royal Bank, a large Canadian banking company. In addition to credit cards, Royal Bank offers personal loans, savings and checking accounts, investing options and personal insurance. As a large banking conglomerate, this company is interested in profit, and therefore they will do their best to charge as much as possible on their programs without losing business. If you have a high-interest credit card with Royal Bank Canada (RBC), there are some strategies you can employ to reduce the interest payments.

Things You'll Need

• RBC credit card statement
• Canadian credit report
• Income documents

Instructions

1. Access your Canadian credit report first. You must either order a free copy (that will be delivered via post) or pay for an instant online copy. You should also pay for your credit rating, commonly known as a FICO score. This will show you your total credit worthiness. It may also shed light on why your RBC credit card has a high interest rate. Scores over 720 are excellent while scores below 600 are poor. See Resources for a link to your Canadian report.

2. Review your credit report for negative and positive elements. Circle all positive history. This can include: strong payment history on your RBC account, good payment history on any other account, long credit history with RBC or other lenders, lack of defaults and late payments and a strong FICO score. The goal here is to highlight your credit strengths and minimize your credit weaknesses.

3. Call your RBC credit card company and ask for a lower rate. Customers are often worried about qualifying for a lower rate. However, many credit representatives are given some freedom to adjust interest rates down in order to retain consumer business. Therefore, if you make a good case to a customer service representative, you may be rewarded with a lower rate--instantly.

4. Ask for an account servicing representative if you cannot get a lower rate with the customer service representative. Account servicing reps can manipulate your account. These reps will also ask to pull a credit report to validate your claims. Remember to ask for a specific interest rate--be reasonable.

5. Speak with a credit manager if you still cannot obtain a lower rate. Plead your case as best as you can and remember to highlight your strengths as a consumer.

Tips & Warnings

• Be careful when threatening to take your business elsewhere. This strong-arm tactic can work, but it can also backfire. Often the best strategy is to be courteous, diplomatic but assertive, too.

References

• Royal Bank Canada: Credit Cards
• RBC Online Banking

Resources

• Equifax Canada