Negotiate Anything and Everything

September 26, 2007 by Marcel

I’ve been enjoying No Credit Needed’s 33 Days and 33 Ways to Save Money and Reduce Debt for the last couple of weeks and wanted to write in agreement to his post about calling for discounts. Calling and negotiating with every vendor possible is the easiest and most surefire way to start saving lots of money. Over the past couple of years, I have saved thousands from continually calling the companies I do business with and simply saying, “The price you are giving me simply isn’t good enough.” Most companies are happy to oblige if you reason with them thoughtfully and factually. Here are some places to get started:

Credit Cards

You will hear the glories of credit card rate negotiation preached on nearly every personal finance blog on the planet. This blog is no different. With a balance transfer only a click away, most credit card companies will happily notch the rate down to keep your money. After all, 10% of $100 is better than 16% of $0. To negotiate, use these to bolster your case:

You are willing to transfer your balance to a competitor’s card
You are willing to cancel their card altogether
If you have other accounts with them, tell them you are willing to cancel those accounts as well
Tell them you are willing to take a credit line decrease in exchange for a lower rate

After having some large, unplanned expenses last year, I racked up a large amount of debt on my credit cards. After about a half hour of calling (darn those long wait times), I had the average rate on my cards down from around 15% to 10%. Although, to be honest, one card offered me 0% for 12 months to consolidate my balances with them, and I happily obliged. The other low rates are still in effect, though.

Auto Insurance

After finally getting a second car, I was looking for ways to reduce our auto insurance premiums. I called my agent at Allstate to discuss possible alternatives. I was amazed at the huge amount of possible discounts that could be applied to my account. Discounts ranged from a “good student” discount (I had started an MBA program) to an adjustment to yearly mileage for the cars to a discount for where I parked my car at night. When all was said and done, I had saved 15% on my premiums after a ten minute conversation.

Cable/Satellite

The cable/satellite rivalry presents great opportunities for saving money. I won’t get into too much detail on this one as I’m sure most of you have threatened to cancel your service at one time or another. What typically happens when you call the cable/satellite company is remarkable – deals that you have never heard of suddenly arise. You are offered 50 more channels for $10 less per month. If you push hard enough, like I did, you may end up getting expanded digital cable free for three months, $15/month for the next three months, and at a 10% discount thereafter. You should probably negotiate at least yearly with them, though, as your price will eventually return to ridiculous levels. My advice is to do as No Credit Needed says: gather all your bills, write down what you are currently paying, and give the companies a call. Stand firm and you could be well on your way to a boatload of savings.

12 Comments

Stuff Worth Reading, Because I’m Approaching Retirement Age | Punny Money said

am September 28 2007 @ 9:06 am

[...] Dominance is a negotiating machine. Somehow he even negotiated five bucks out of me for the privilege of linking to his [...]
The Friday Gathering For 9/28/2007 | Gather Little By Little said

am September 28 2007 @ 9:54 am

[...] recommends we negotiate everything. I love [...]
Weekend Roundup - Soccer Season Starts Edition | beingfrugal.net said

am September 29 2007 @ 6:40 am

[...] tells us to negotiate anything and everything at Financial Dominance.com. I get squeamish about negotiating, but I may have to find some [...]
ChristianPF said

am September 29 2007 @ 10:59 pm

Great tips. I have had success with credit card companies and actually today, I negotiated a better price when buying tires for my car. I am learning that just about everything is negotiable.
Moolanomy weekly roundup #10: said

am September 30 2007 @ 7:01 am

[...] Dominance (RSS) presents Negotiate Anything and Everything — ask, and you shall [...]
Money Blue Book said

am October 4 2007 @ 4:27 pm

I haggle everywhere I go as well. Even at hotels when I clearly don’t have a AAA membership I still always convince them to give me the discount. They want your business and sometimes you just have to do some extra coaxing! Just be smooth and don’t grovel
33 Days And 33 Ways To Save Money And Reduce Debt said

am October 11 2007 @ 8:09 pm

[...] Reaction Post 2: Financial Dominance [...]
Randall said

am October 12 2007 @ 10:34 am

One thing I found out though; most store-branded cards (Home Depot in my case) will flatly NOT negotiate the rate. I found this out from the rep, who was happy and understanding of my request to close the account after I found this out.

Don’t expect the non-standard CC’s to be too sympathetic. But it never hurts to ask anyway.
hank said

am October 14 2007 @ 10:09 am

TOTALLY agree – I can’t say the number of times I’ve done this. Good call.
Accounts Or Other College Savings said

am March 19 2008 @ 1:01 am

Paying for College: Pre-High School Savings and Financial Aid…

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Therapy New York said

am September 28 2008 @ 9:16 pm

Those are some good tips on negotiating. I know you can get house insurance cheaper if you get it with the same people that do your car insurance. I have had good results with the credit card companies. I know people just start making late payments instead of giving the credit card company a call. They don’t realize that the credit card companies are willing to work with you.
Chase (from The Credit Blog) said

am November 27 2008 @ 11:07 am

Marcel you are just like me! I try to negoatiate on literally everything I have to spend money on. The insurance one you mentioned will probably help people the most, since it applies to everyone AND will save them probably a few hundred a year if they ask for the right discounts. I wrote a blog post too about how to negotiate credit card interest rate Good job on bringing interest rates down from 15% to 10%. Now most people I’ve heard are only able to knock off a percent or two due to tightened credit.