Yesterday I was on a conference call where a lady who’s been writing consumer journalism since before I was even born, in response to me saying how we repackage useful information and make it funny and make jokes and put up pictures of cats, asked me if the site actually helps anyone. I told her quite firmly and loudly that we do and gave examples, and here’s another one to throw on the evidence pile. Kevin writes:

I just wanted to write and say thank you for all the information that you and your team post on The Consumerist. Today my wife and I called up all our credit card companies to negotiate. Most either lowered slightly or nothing at all, except for Citi. Citi had the highest interest rate and we carried the highest balance on that card. One quick phone call and they dropped our rate from 26.99% down to 6.74%. I couldn’t believe it. If it wasn’t for The Consumerist I would have never known I could have negotiated the rate. Thank you all so much.

Yeah, I’d say we’re helping people. Here’s a sample script you can use to get it lowered. If it doesn’t work, shop around, then call back and threaten to cancel for someone with a lower rate. If they still won’t, then go ahead and do a balance transfer to a card with more favorable terms.

(Photo: Ben Popken)

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