Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - Here's How Negotiating Is Done: Listen and Learn
Episode Date: April 5, 2021Nicole shows you how negotiating your monthly bills can be addicting, gets invited by Dr. Oz to help a guest lower her APR, and shows you why not negotiating means you’re leaving money on the table.... Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Money rehabbers, you get it. When you're trying to have it all, you end up doing a lot of juggling.
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bfa.com slash newprosmedia. Hey guys, are you ready for some money rehab? upended by an unlikely player. GameStop. I am so excited to welcome you to the first episode of Money Rehab.
I know, right? You never forget your first.
I am never going to forget this. I hope you don't either.
Here's the deal with the show. I am going to rehab your wallet.
It's exactly what the title says. This is Money Rehab.
So that you can get your financial shit together once and for all.
And on this road to recovery, I am going to be your sponsor.
And just like any good sponsor in any recovery program, I can talk the talk because I've
been exactly where you are.
I've been broke.
I have had debt, a lot of it.
I didn't come from money.
I didn't have someone talk to me about stocks and bonds growing up.
In fact, when my boyfriend in high school said he wanted to be a hedge fund manager,
I thought the dude wanted to be in gardening. So I was totally clueless about money. I didn't
negotiate when I should have. I didn't ask for raises when I should have. I have had a ton of bad, bad money habits that I have rehabbed on my
own. And that's the thing. We don't learn this stuff in school, so I needed to learn it in the
school of hard knocks. And I want to now share everything I learned because it's actually not
that complicated. I mean, I want to give you the cheat code that I wish I had when I was rehabbing my
own financial life.
I've decided to devote my entire career to this because it angers me that we do not learn
this stuff, that we don't talk about financial literacy.
How the heck are we supposed to figure it out?
Not only figure it out, but thrive.
That's why I wrote my New York Times bestselling book,
Rich Bitch. That is why I started the money school, because I was complaining so much,
we don't learn this stuff in school. I just created my own school as the most unlikely
professor. And yeah, even though I'm the least likely money expert or money professor. I have, to be fair, gotten all of
my financial certifications since the time I needed money rehab. I then went on to anchor
on CNBC. I anchored at CNN during the financial crisis. I anchored a show on Bloomberg. But those
weren't my people. You are my people. I wanted to talk to you, my former self, the girl who was smiling and going through and I want to give you the help I wish I had.
And I promise if I can do it, so can you.
So today we have a question from a listener named Elena C.
I just wanted to know what are some of the regular recurring bills that come up for me every month that I can try to negotiate?
Thank you.
So, Elena, this is a great question. It's one I get a lot. But if you're not negotiating
everything, you're really leaving money on the table. I think you know generally you can
negotiate your cell phone bill or your cable bill, whether you've done it or not is a different story.
But everything is actually negotiable. Seriously, medical debt, negotiable. Your car
loan, negotiable. The APR on your credit card, oh my God, the APR on your credit card is really the
first place that you should put your energy. If you're like, I don't have time to do all the
bills, do the APR on your credit card first. So many financial experts that honestly drive me
crazy will tell you to cut out
the morning latte. They might scream at you and say, do not buy that $5 latte. If you cut it out,
you will find financial freedom or something like that. I want to bang my head against the wall
when I hear that because it's terrible advice. A financial diet is a lot like a regular diet.
If you don't allow yourself small indulgences because you work your ass off so you get a little
treat for yourself in that latte, you will binge on something bigger later on. So what do you think
is going to be more important to your overall finances? Cutting out $5 lattes or getting a
few percentage points off the interest rate on your credit card,
knowing how interest rates snowball,
that is going to save you way more money than all the lattes in all the land.
Most people do not think they can negotiate this.
They think they see this fancy piece of paper from a bank or a credit card company
with their interest rate, and that is set in stone.
That is not true.
There was a recent study that shows customers who ask their credit card companies for something,
so a lower interest rate or their annual fees dropped or their late payment waived.
That study found that half of people who asked got something.
But you have to ask because the answer is always no if you don't ask. This becomes so addicting.
Honestly, it's my favorite sport. It's maybe the only cardio I'm doing these days.
Here are the big things you should remember when you're calling your credit card company.
First of all, talk yourself up. Say you have
been super loyal. You've been a customer for X number of years. You have an amazing credit score.
You have always paid your bills on time. And then second, emphasize the competitor's rate.
This works really well when it comes to your lease or your car loan in particular. Say your
friend gets a better rate at their competitor.
Say they're offering XYZ.
That is your leverage.
And then the third thing to do
is throw out a lower interest rate.
And if they say no, which they probably will to start,
that's how negotiations work,
then ask for their manager
and then ask for their manager's manager
and just keep going up the chain
until you get to the bat phone of the CEO if you want. I mean, be a dog on a bone with it.
If you get to the very end, I mean, if you've been on the phone for an hour, you can ask for
something else. Just say, hey, can you do something about the fees? Can you do something about late
payments? Can you do something about the annual membership? Can you upgrade me to a better card?
something about the annual membership? Can you upgrade me to a better card? There's always something else like a perks option that's not the actual monetary option, but is still going to be
really valuable to you. And at the very end, you can say, hey, listen, you know, Mrs. CEO,
I am going to leave your company for another company if I don't get something here once and
for all. Say that you're going to leave, but honestly, just between us, if you I don't get something here once and for all? Say that you're going to leave,
but honestly, just between us, if you really don't want to leave and they really call your bluff,
like let's say you're talking to the CEO at the very end and they're like, hey, we can't give you
anything at all. Final answer, period, end of story. If you actually really don't want to leave
and you're just saying that for leverage, first, you're my hero. Second, you can always at the end just say, okay, cool. Got to go. Bye. I really want you to start. Just
try, you know, pick up the phone. They're not going to arrest you. They're not going to mess
up your credit score for asking. Remember that companies would rather throw you a bone versus
losing you as a customer. So I've told you a lot about how to negotiate, but now I'm going to show
you how it is done. A while back, Dr. Oz asked me to help his friend Tia negotiate some of her bills.
You know I'm not one to back down from a challenge, especially a money one. I sat down with Tia while
we called her credit card company, expecting we could get her APR lowered a little and hoping we
could get it slashed by a lot.
Here's how it went down.
All right, Tia, ask them what they're offering new customers.
Okay.
What rate are you offering new customers?
Look, so each person is different.
It's just based on their history.
So, I mean, we rarely have like the same set rates for everyone, but I can definitely take
a look into it.
That's the sound of me muting the call.
I was right there with her,
kind of like a little money angel on her shoulder,
or maybe a devil,
whispering negotiation tactics in her ear.
Remember, you're always allowed to take a break
if you need a moment to strategize.
State your case.
Tell them why you're a good customer.
Okay, gotcha.
Well, I've been a loyal customer for about 10 years.
I always pay my bill on time. I always keep a low balance. I'd really like to get a lower rate. Yeah, you're
doing everything correct. You're paying, you know, on time. There's just a lot of factors that go
into the APR. Sometimes they want to see who's gonna break first. It's like a game of negotiating chicken. You've got this. They cannot outlast you. Hang in there. Do what you have to do. Take a Candy Crush break if you have to scroll through Instagram.
Ask what you want or you'll walk away. Ask for a manager.
Can I speak to a manager?
Sure, you may just a moment.
Thank you. Hi, Melissa. Thank you so much for your help.
I understand we want to look and see if we can get that interest rate lower for you.
Absolutely.
Do you mind if I play share in a brief hold and see what I can do for you?
Absolutely. Thank you.
It's already been like four minutes. Hopefully that's a good sign.
I'm not going to give up.
That's my money and I'm fighting for it.
No means yes.
That's right.
So the lowest I could get it to was 12.49 that's going to be for existing
balance and new purchases there's no time frame on that okay would you like to accept that yes i
accept that okay fantastic i know you weren't there but we were silently celebrating and making
our yay faces at each other all right thank you so much i appreciate right. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much. You did such a good job, Tia. I'm so proud of you. We did so well. We did so well. And with that, we stitched
up our negotiation, left the financial OR, so to speak, and headed to our debrief with Dr. Oz.
I was anxious. And you're also surprised because you're not paying attention. You kind of think
that you know a little bit about what's going on with your money. And then when you look at the
numbers, you're like, oh, my goodness. And you have to keep pushing. And I think that you know a little bit about what's going on with your money. And then when you look at the numbers, you're like, oh my goodness. And you have to keep pushing. And I
think that that's the biggest thing that Nicole encouraged me to do. And I encourage everyone
else to do. Ask for the manager. Keep making your demands. You are the customer. They need you.
Yeah. And you started with 1%. You were happy with that.
Yes. At first they gave me 1% and then she's like, ask for a manager. And I was like, okay,
we'll keep pushing. And then the manager was like, you know what? After the 10 minute hold, we're going to give you three. It's worth it.
Thank you to Dr. Oz for calling in the money doctor. And of course, thank you to Tia for doing
so great, braving that call and really crushing it. For today's tip, you can take straight to the
bank. Everything is negotiable. So start having those conversations today. Leverage your selling points. Talk about how awesome you are, how long you've been a loyal
customer. I mean, pull out all the stops. Likely the worst thing that will happen is that they'll
say no, but chances are they'll throw you some sort of boat. I'll link more negotiating tips
in our show notes and on our Instagram at money rehab show.
I even have some scripts that you can follow if you get stumped.
Thank you so much for participating in our APR show and tell today.
I'll meet you right back here tomorrow for some more money rehab.
In the meantime, don't do anything with your money.
I wouldn't do unless, of course, it's fighting for it.
Special thanks to Dr. Oz and the whole
Dr. Oz team for letting us use the clip of me negotiating with Tia.
Money Rehab is a production of iHeartMedia. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Our producers are
Morgan Lavoie and Catherine Law. Money Rehab is edited and engineered by Brandon Dickert with
help from Josh Fisher.
Executive producers are Mangesh Hatikadur and Will Pearson.
Huge thanks to the OG Money Rehab supervising producer, Michelle Lanz, for her pre-production and development work.
And as always, thanks to you for finally investing in yourself so that you can get it together and get it all.