Often times we as consumers forget that we by way of spending our hard earned money have some say in what we pay to service providers and product distributers. Three such items that we often overlook are Credit card companies, Medical service providers, and Mortgage lending institutions.
In the case of a credit card service, you the consumer can and should be agressive about what interest rate you are comfortable paying. Credit card companies are competing fiercely again for new customers. Credit Card Issuers send out over a billion credit card offers on any given quarter of nearly every year and even more so now that the economy has made such and impact on consumer spending. Why not Use the competition to your advantage?! How?? First and foremost, don't jump at the first offer! Negotiate for the best rate before accepting any credit card. Take time out to call the 800 number associated with a new card offer and if you already have a card but want to get your rates lowered, call the number on the back of your card and talk to the customer service rep. If the rep says they can't or won't adjust the rate, ask to speak with a manager. Point out your longevity if you have already been with the creditor for a period of time and highlight your payment history if it has been reputable. The same goes for offers you receive as you wouldn't have received them if the creditor hadn't examined the basic information available on public record that made them feel you are potentially a qualifying consumer. If you are considering a new card offer, indicate that you have gotten several credit card offers and suggest they give you the best rate they have available to offer to help you decide which offer you will ultimiately end up selecting. NEVER pay for credit limit increases!! Remember creditors make thier money in the form of interest charges on both a monthly revolving term and an annual term hence the larger your credit limit the more they make. Hence, be patient and let them voluntarily extend you larger credit limits over time as a valued customer. Suprisingly what most consumers don't realize is that if you have good payment habits in most cases creditors will lower the interest rate to keep their current customer as well as earn new customers.
In the area of Medical billing, the consumer can also negotiate rates with success thanks to the consumer services provided by The Health Care Bluebook which can be utilized by going to thier public website http://www.healthcarebluebook.com/ So, take time out to check into average charges for proceedures your physician may prescribe for your health care needs and be up to speed on the aveage costs. You should talk to the billing administrator in regard to any billing adjustments. Once you have gotten in touch with this person explain that the cost is a significantly difficult burden on your budget and ask if there are any discounts avialable for paying up front in cash or any optional discounts they have available through thier facility or third party phamaseuticals. It is not uncommon to save a significant amount at medical care facilities simply by speaking with the billing administrator. To get an idea of what health care providers can do the next time you get a statement from your medical insurance provider for services rendered and paid by them, notice what they pay for a particular service and then call the medical facility anonymously and ask a billing clerk what the cost to you as an uninsured patient would be. Keep in mind medical insurance companies get disounted rates based on agreed upon terms of requiring thier customers to use certain facilities in their pre-arranged contracts so you can't get discounts of this magnitude but you can negotiate significantly lowered charges simply by asking / negotiating the fees charged.
Lastly, in regards to mortgage lenders, with the economy as it is currently, it should be imperative to any consumer to check into the current interest rate averages before accepting just any rate offered by a lender. In other words make it clear to the lender that you are shopping for the best rate before you select a mortgage lender. This is particularly of value to consumer's that have credit scores in the upper 600's or higher scores. The easiest way to do this is by
getting quotes in writing from several lenders and then taking the lowest and asking your preferred lender can they beat the quote. Also it is important to know what type of lender you are talking to. There are traditional financial mortgage lenders such as various banks credit unions that have mortgage lending services and then there are mortgage brokers that (for a fee) market a potential buyer to a large number of lending institutions to get them the best interest rates and terms based on thier credit worthyness. Typically these mortgage brokers charge a fee in the form of a percentage / commission amount. In many cases a broker can be a good choice in that they will pull your credit only once and then apply for quotes in your behalf with sometimes dozens of lenders with only one standard loan application and in doing so cause only one inquiry to appear on your credit report. However, when applying individually at independent lenders each time you apply for a quote you will find that there will be an iquiry that appears for each one you get quotes from which in some cases (if your scores are already marginal) could be detrimental to your credit scores since too many inquiries can lower your scores. Also, keep in mind that even if you can't get better interest rates due to your credit scores, mortgage lenders have lots of fees of which most of them can and should be examined. If you deem them exhorbant you should ask them to lower them by negotiating for lower fees. Your preferred Realtor can usually give assistance in this area since they on a daily basis see these fees in closing transactions and have a good knowledge of what the averages are. Keep in mind these fees outside of the interest rate aren't regulated by anyone but the lender themselves based on thier costs to operate thier business. Meaning, often times the fees are used to pass along some of their costs of operation to you the consumer. An example of such fees would be something as simple as corrier fees which often are reflected in amounts as high as a few hundred dollars in some cases.
Hopefully this insight will help some of my clients and patrons in thier endeavors as consumers. Your feed back is welcomed as well as questions and comments.
