I know that large banks are having a hard time since this whole mortgage meltdown debacle but what’s been bad for them has been good for me so far. Let me explain what I mean.
Chase needs your deposit accounts and they were willing to pay you to open accounts and fund them. I got a $150 deposit from Chase for opening a checking account with $100. There were some other restrictions but not only did I open an account but I referred a few people. If you referred people they were willing to pay you $25 per person who opened an account at the same branch that you opened yours. Nice huh?
I also got a rate reduction from Countrywide who holds the HELOC the parents’ home. They called US to see if they could give us a better rate. Mind you we paid on time, never missed a payment and overall were great customers for them. The rate at the time was prime plus something or another. It came out at about 5.75%. Countrywide covered ALL costs. When I say all I mean all. They paid for application, flood check, credit check, closing costs, etc. We didn’t pay a dime. The result? The rate dropped to prime MINUS a percentage. It is now at 3.875%. Almost a full 2 percentage points. And it just took a bit of time.
I’m still getting 0% credit card offers in the mail. My current credit card is at 0% and before it expires I will try to get another one to transfer the balance over to. Keep in mind that I try to keep my credit score high by paying all of my bills on time so that I can get the best rates on everything.
You can find lots of different ways that different companies are trying to save you money and make your life easier during the current economic downturn. Sometimes all it takes it picking up the phone and calling your creditor to see if they can make a better deal with you. I call my other credit card company every 6 months to see if they can lower my rate even a wee bit. So far I’ve only been told twice but I’ve been successful twice. Keep your eyes open for deals that you can take advantage of and ways to make your life easy. I’ll pass them along as I find them! Below is the Chase offer.
Chase 0% APR Credit Card Offercredit card