Are you missing out on hundreds of dollars’ worth of savings each year because you don’t know about this simple trick?
A new survey by Credit Simple has revealed that 85 per cent of Australians don’t realise that they can use their good credit rating to obtain a better deal from their banks, money lenders, credit card providers and phone and utilities companies.
Anyone with a high credit score can leverage it to negotiate to get better deals on interest repayments and bills.
The first step is to find out your credit score, which you can access free once per year. A healthy credit score is seen as more attractive to lenders and financial institutions, which makes them open to providing you with a better deal.
Analysis of Reserve Bank of Australia data shows that, if you do have a good credit score and successfully negotiate a better deal with lenders or utilities providers, you could save up to $864 each year.
The report also reveals that many Australians, even those with a score below 500, don’t know that, by simply contacting former lenders to correct default or late payments, they can improve their credit scores.
“If you’ve got a credit default on your file and it was from a late phone bill four years ago but you’ve been paying your bills wonderfully well since, why shouldn’t you be able to fix that and tell the financial community you’re a good payer?” said Credit Simple Chief Executive David Scognamiglio.
Did you know you could negotiate a better deal on credit repayments or on your utilities?
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