What does your cable TV, car insurance, cell phone, internet and credit cards have in common? You can save money by calling their customer service lines once in a while.
Cable TV
They offered me a 6 month promotion last time I called them for free HBO and Showtime. While I didn’t save any money directly, it saved me some money from going to the movies and helped cut down on some of the expenses if I were bored and wanted to go out.
I just had to remember to cancel the service after 6 months, which I did yesterday.
Car Insurance
I recommend doing this once a year (even better if you can do it every six months) but on top of calling your insurance company, try calling others and see if you can get a better rate by switching to them. It’s easy because you have all the coverage information with you to do an applies to applies comparison.
Cell Phones Plans
In the old days, you couldn’t take your phone number with you when you switch providers but not anymore. You should always check whether you are actually using your plan minutes and how you can downgrade your service. When your service contract is up (usually after 12 or 24 months), you should look into switching providers because most of them will give you a free phone that you can sell or better yet, some cell phone brokers will just give you cash when you switch.
Internet Plans
I recently called AT&T DSL service for my Uncle and they gave me a $10 monthly discount just for asking! Apparently, they lowered the rate on new customers but decided that it was okay to charge old customers the same higher rate. Too bad my Uncle isn’t going to share the savings with me!
Credit Cards
Most things are negotiable so call your credit card company to see if you can get a better deal on interest rates and whether there are other cards that give better rewards. Many people will tell you that interest rates aren’t neogitable these days but there are many creative ways to lower the rate (like changing you to a different card with a lower rate). There’s no sense in letting them keep more money and in these times when credit card companies are struggling, they will work with you.
Others
There are actually a ton of other services that you can probably call today to save some money. Even if you don’t end up getting any perks, you probably only lost a few minutes of your time but you will most likely learn something new. The time is well worth it so do something today.
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Nice article, thanks for sharing! I actually called my cable provider a few weeks ago and saved $40/month just by asking. I never carry a balance so I’ve never called my credit card company before, but it seems to me as though it would just be easier to find a 0% balance transfer card. What do you think?
Alan, 0% balance credit cards are dangerous since you have to make sure you are on top of your finances. You also can’t find a card with a big enough credit limit to give you $40 a month!
As for me, I call every 6 months to all my companies to see if I can save. Sometimes, it’s to keep my bills low (renew my promotional offers). Other times, I enroll in new ones. It’s my secret to have low monthly bills!!
Save every cent and call now. I’ve been doing this for a long time. The people over the phone are usually very helpful as well (unlike tech support). You can really save tons of money off your bills with this method.
This is a good article. Could you offer some tips on how to negotiate on the phone with these companies? How should you ask for a discount?
Olivia: You want the representative to help you since there’s no incentive for him/her not to since it’s not their money versus yours.
So, an approach I usually take is “the economy is really bad and the monthly fee is just too high right now. I’m wondering if there are any promotions, special offers or ways to lower my bill.” to start things off.
Some people try to threaten to cancel but I don’t feel comfortable with that approach because if they say okay, then I wouldn’t know how to respond to that if that’s not my intended goal.