Reader Chad writes:
Yep, you read that right. Thanks to Consumerist, I was able to launch a successful EECB that will end up saving me over $10,000! A couple of years ago, I consolidated $20,000 in credit card debt into an MBNA GoldOption loan. I figured making one payment to MBNA rather than six or eight payments to various cards with various interest rates. I was approved for a $30,000 line of credit at 18.99 percent. Since I only needed $20,000, I inquired about getting a lower interest rate, being that my credit was solid, I figured I could get around 12 percent or lower. I was told that if I took out the loan, I could easily get a rate reduction after six months of on-time payments. Since cash flow was the issue at hand, and the consolidated loan was going to save me about $100 a month and give me a scheduled payoff date, I agreed. Needless to say, MBNA was acquired by Bank of America, and after about of year of making on-time full payments, I made the phone call. I was pretty much laughed at and told that the only way I could get a lower interest rate is if it was negotiated by a credit counseling service, and that since I had been making my payments in full and on time, I wasn't eligible. I hung up the phone pretty irate, as I felt I was being told that someone with a deadbeat status had a better chance of getting their interest rate lowered. I launched an EECB to several top executives at Bank of America, and within a couple of hours, I had a reply from a Senior VP that someone would be contacting me soon regarding this. Later that afternoon, I had a voicemail and the next day I was on the phone with the head of Consumer Financing, who lowered by rate by 10 percent, saving me $120 a month for seven years!
Wow. Congratulations, Chad!
For more information about how to learn to launch your own EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb), click here.
(Photo:Meghann Marco)
