Had it with credit card rates? Here's a hack for lowering them

You fume about the 20% interest rate on that credit card, even as you fault yourself for running up the balance.

But have you ever considered asking for a lower rate?

Credit card interest rates hover near historic highs. The average card rate is about 19.6%, as of July 8, Bankrate reports. That's about a point below the record high of 20.8%, set in August 2024.

Cardholders might feel locked into that high rate. But, as it turns out, it's pretty easy to talk a bank into lowering it.

More than 80% of cardholders who asked for a lower rate in the past year met with success, LendingTree reports.

The personal finance site has surveyed Americans on card rates for several years. This year's survey found that 84% of cardholders who asked for a lower rate got one, the highest success rate since LendingTree began tracking it.

The average consumer reaped a rate reduction of 6.3 percentage points. That cut would lower a 19.6% interest rate to 13.3%.

"This isn't a new phenomenon," said Matt Schulz, chief consumer finance analyst at LendingTree.

"This isn't an inflation-era phenomenon, or a pandemic phenomenon. This is just something that banks do. And people's chances of getting their way are way better than they think they are. But they have to ask."

Credit card rates stand near record highs

Credit card rates have risen sharply in recent years. As recently as February 2022, the overall average credit card rate was 14.6%, according to federal data. Rates soared over the next two years as the Federal Reserve raised benchmark interest rates. By February 2024, the average card rate stood at 21.6%.

But the Fed is only partly responsible for those higher rates. Card rates are higher now than they have ever been, including times when other interest rates were higher than they are now.

Card companies are charging record-high margins. That's the interest card issuers charge beyond the prime lending rate: A profit margin, basically.

Credit card margins  average 14.8%, as of February, WalletHub reports. In other words, the average cardholder pays nearly 15% in annual interest on top of the prime rate. The prime rate is, in theory, the rate lenders charge their most creditworthy customers.  

Card companies say they charge high margins to cover their costs when cardholders don't make payments, among other reasons.

Roughly 13% of the nation's credit card balance was at least 90 days delinquent in the first quarter of 2026, according to  a report  from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That figure hasn't crept so high since 2011, when the nation was recovering from the 2008 financial crisis. 

Want a lower card rate? You just have to ask.

But high card rates and margins don't mean a card company won't lower your rate, if you ask, LendingTree reports.

Consumers had an even higher success rate, the LendingTree survey found, when they called a card issuer to ask for a fee waiver.

Over the last year, 92% of requests for late fee waivers were granted, LendingTree reports. And 94% of cardholders were successful in waiving or reducing an annual fee.

If banks need to charge high interest rates and fees to make a profit, then why do they routinely waive fees and cut rates?

The answer, Schulz says, has to do with the bank's long-term relationship with its customers.

"Banks view customers in terms of lifetime value," Schulz said. "And they know that if they waive a $30 late fee, it creates so much goodwill with that customer that the person's probably going to stick around and probably going to spend more money than they otherwise would."

Banking industry leaders say LendingTree's findings illustrate how far card issuers will go to compete for your business.

"Every day, issuers compete on interest rates, rewards, fees, and other benefits," said Lindsey Johnson, CEO of the Consumer Bankers Association. "Credit card pricing reflects a wide range of individual and market factors, and this data shows banks are continuing to work directly with customers to provide flexibility based on their unique circumstances."

Schulz said he is surprised that more consumers don't ask for a break from their credit card company.

In the 2026 survey, only 23% of cardholders said they asked the card issuer for a lower interest rate. And only 54% of late payers asked for the late fee to be waived.

"A lot of people just don't think that it works," Schulz said. "And it does. The data shows crystal clear that it does."

The LendingTree survey reached 2,000 U.S. consumers in May.

Even an auto-attendant can lower your card rate

Schulz himself has missed the occasional credit card payment by a day or two. That's all it takes to get hit with a late fee.

Last year, Schulz logged into his Chase app and discovered two late fees.

"Upon seeing this, I immediately picked up the phone to ask Chase to waive the fees," Schulz wrote in a Substack post. "I've done this successfully with other card issuers in the past and had no reason to expect I wouldn't get my way this time, too."

Not only did it work: Schulz didn't even have to speak to a human being. As soon as the auto-attendant had verified his identity, it asked him if he was calling about a late fee.

"I answered yes," Schulz wrote, "and the automated system proceeded to tell me that as a one-time courtesy they would be willing to waive the late fee on my card."

Schulz has been asking consumers about their negotiations with card companies for years. The surveys inspired him to write a book about taking control of your financial life.

Negotiating a lower interest rate can be a great tool for getting out of credit card debt, Schulz said.

Two more ways to lower credit card debt

Here are a few more tips to help you dig out. 

Zero-APR credit cards 

One of the best ways to pay off a high-interest credit card is with another credit card, one that charges no interest at all. 

A zero-APR card allows a consumer to make purchases and pay no interest for a promotional period of 12, 18 or even 24 months.   

When the promotion ends, interest kicks in – but only on the debt that remains on the card. 

Zero-APR cards work especially well, credit experts say, for consumers with good credit scores and a relatively small amount of card debt.

Nonprofit credit counselors 

Cardholders with weaker credit or higher balances could consider a nonprofit  credit counseling service. Credit counselors can help you consolidate your debt and negotiate lower interest rates to help you repay it.  

While a cardholder might be able to negotiate a 6-point reduction in the card's interest rate, credit experts say, a credit counselor can knock it down 10 to 15 points or more.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Had it with credit card rates? Here's a hack for lowering them

Reporting by Daniel de Visé, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect

This story was originally published July 9, 2026 at 9:21 AM.