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"Okay, so you already know that on my quest to save $5,000 this year, I&amp;#039;ve made phone calls to lower my car insurance (saving us $900+), and bundle my phone, Internet and cable (saving us $528). No problem. But this week I was forced to call my credit card company, and honestly, I was intimidated.  I got a notice in the mail a few weeks ago saying they were going to up my interest rate to 19% (!), which I could accept or opt out. (I gather from talking to our money columnist Mary Hunt that this kind of thing is very common these days. Ever since the economy began to tank, credit companies are employing all sorts of tricks to make their money.) If I planned to opt out, the company was going to close my account in a few months. Now I know from editing Mary&amp;#039;s column that in this economic climate every ounce of credit counts, and closing an account is a bad idea since it can lower your credit score. (And as a point of comparison, the average interest rate on credit cards right now is about 14%.)  So..I picked up the phone took a deep breath and called. It took a little while, and I was passed around to a few representatives (is there anything worse than feeling like you&amp;#039;re lost in phone hell?), but I told them that I didn&amp;#039;t want to pay that much interest on my account, that I had been a customer for 20 years, that I paid my bill on time, and on and on. In the end I finally said, &amp;quot;I want to keep my business with your company but I&amp;#039;ll go elsewhere if you won&amp;#039;t lower my rate.&amp;quot; They offered to keep my rate at 14%. From somewhere deep inside of me a voice came out saying &amp;quot;I think you can do better.&amp;quot; And guess what? They did. My interest rate is now 10%.  An added bonus: As I was looking over my bill I saw a charge I didn&amp;#039;t recognize for $36. I asked about it and was given some lame &amp;quot;oh, that&amp;#039;s a periodic finance charge&amp;quot; explanation or something I didn&amp;#039;t really understand. Anyway, the rep credited my account $106 for that charge and past ones. (Lesson: Check every charge and detail on your bill every month!) Moral of the story: Even if your intimidated, even if you&amp;#039;ve paid your bills late once in a while and have a big balance, call. They want to keep your business. How much I&amp;#039;ve saved on the way to $5,000: $2,173.59 and peace of mind knowing that if I get into a jam and run a balance, the interest on my credit card will be much lower than it could have been.  Ellen Breslau   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/a41737/lower-the-interest-on-your-credit-cards-4420/?src=shelter_footer>