Do you think that when negotiating, it's alright to tell the reps that you've got a better offer, even if you don't? Of coure I know that it's not the "right" thing to do, but it seems to work. They won't know anyway, right?
You always have "OFFERS" you can negotiate with (look left of board). CREDIT CARD OFFER CREDIT CARD BROWSER + "POP UPS" TOP OF PAGE, BOTTOM OF PAGE.
Well, nothing stops you to try... but you have to be credible enough. If you tell me that you've got an Amex Platinum offer when your only other card is a secured Cap One, then there's no way I will belive you)
Sorin is right. You can't make up something that is not credible. As someone who has worked in credit card banking for over 9 years, I can tell you that in order to get the best possible rates through negotiation, you need to end up in the retention department of the credit card issuer. In order to do this, you need to be a valuable customer and make them believe that you are thinking of closing your account because of a better offer. netKat http://creditexpert.tripod.com/home.htm
I guess it all depends on the company and the reps you talk to. I definitely believe what you say is true. But sometimes, I think it just depends on who you get and what kind of mood their in. I called Providian after having their Gold card for a month to try and negotiate better terms. The rep was very nice. All I asked was if they could work with me on getting better terms. She transfered me to Retention w/o me having to ask for them. BTW I was polite and never mentioned anything about closing my acct. The rep in Retention told me that since I had only opened the acct. in November, all he could do was drop the APR from 23.99 down to 21.99%. It's not much, but it's something. I guess everyone has different experiences, but for the most part, like you said, they have limits.
