About 10 years ago I got a credit card to re-establish my credit. My APR was 11%. The company was bought out by Merrick Bank. My APR went up to 17.99%. At this time my annual APR is 34.7%. Why, you may ask?
Well, I am asking too. I pay my bill on time. Although in the beginning for some reason they would hold my check forever, and then charge me a late fee. I stopped that problem by doing auto-pay through my credit union.
I have excellent credit now. 739 credit score... I field credit card offers every day.
Today I called Merrick Bank to request them to lower my rate based on my good standing with the company (length of time being with them), payment record and credit score. They told me that it is their "policy at this time to not grant customer requests to lower interest rates." I asked why. I was just curious what he would say. He said, "It just is. Anything else I could help you with?" I'm not sure if he did help in the first place.
Then I shredded that card in my handy dandy paper shredder. Afterwards I made a cup of coffee, and shopped for the best 0% balance transfer card I could find. Which I did. 15 months with no interest will allow me to completely pay that particular debt off, instead of a third of my payment going to interest.
In about three weeks or so when the transfer goes through, Merrick will get there payoff, and I will be on the road to being debt free instead of sitting on the curb.
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