by Jared Garrett

Created on: April 17, 2009

Quick, write down the name of each credit card you have as well as the interest rate you are charged on any balance you carry. Go on, do it from memory.

How did that go?

If you are like most Americans, you probably have no real idea what your credit card interest rate is. Did you know that you probably have as many as three different interest rates on those cards of yours? It's true! Most credit cards have one interest rate for balance transfers, one interest rate for balances that are carried over from one period to another, and another interest rate for money you have withdrawn as cash.

Keeping track of these interest rates can be a real challenge, particularly if you have multiple cards.

Before we go further, we are not going to advise you to cut up all of your cards and live a cash life. This strategy is nave, simply because the world we live in runs on credit and you must have a credit history for you to have a credit score. These two things affect your insurance rates and buying power.

Now, even though it might be difficult to keep track of your credit card interest rates, you still want to do it. What's more, even if you are one of those people who pay off your balance every month, you still need to keep track of your interest rate. Usually you can find details of your interest rate on your statements. However, if you can't decipher all of that fine print, you can always just call your credit card company and ask them what your current rate is.

The best way to track your interest rate is by using some kind of money management/spreadsheet system. We don't need to name these programs here, but it can be very quick and easy to create an entry for each credit card and then input the different interest rates.

HOW TO LOWER RATES

The process for lowering your interest rates, now that you are keeping track of them, is deceptively easy. Essentially, you just have to contact your credit card company and ask them to lower you rate.

In fact, a study conducted by a major consumer group reports that 57% of people who called their credit card company about lowering their interest rate were able to have their rate lowered immediately. You know what else? The new rate these people achieved was anywhere from 7 to 10 points lower than the rate they had at the time.

Not too shabby.

There are a few factors that your credit card company will look at. They're more likely to lower your rate if you meet some or all of these.

* A good credit history and score
* Your debt-to-income ratio is

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