This is part of our Pay Debt Quickly series sponsored by
PDQ Pay Debt Quickly kit.

The other day I got a call from “Mastercard and Visa” offering to lower my interest rates. “Yippee,” I thought.

But, I was immediately on guard because I know that Mastercard and Visa are separate companies and I didn’t think they’d be working together. Not that I know this for sure, but that’s what came up for me.

The guy told me that a lot of people are cancelling their credit cards because of high interest rates and the banks would rather lower the interest rates and keep the customers. He asked me if I had any cards with balances over $5000 and interest rates higher than 10%.

I laughed and said, “I don’t know.”

He said, “You don’t know if you have balances over $5,000?”

I said, “I don’t know if I have interest rates over 10%.”

Then I asked him if I would have to give him my credit card numbers.

Click.

I guess not.

Just a reminder to be aware of anyone who calls you looking for personal information. Legitimate companies, banks and the government DO NOT do that! Getting lower interest rates sounds like such a great thing that it’s easy to be taken advantage of.

It is OK to call your creditors and ask for lower rates. If you’re making the call to a verifiable phone number (such as the one on your credit card statement), go ahead and provide the information requested to identify you. They’ll probably ask a number of questions to verify that it really is you who’s calling.

Warmly, Cindy

P.S. Please pass this warning on to your friends and family.

P.S. Scam artists are also calling about the Economic Stimulus Money from the government.
NO ONE will call from the government about this check!