The Best Way to Lower Your Monthly Bills

The best way to lower your monthly bills may be as simple as using the following phrase the next time you’re talking with your “favorite” business.

“I’d like to cancel, please.”

This single phrase, when dealing with any service-related business, is extremely powerful.

Really, there is no equal.

Well, maybe the phrase, “I’m going to sue you,” comes close. Okay, maybe a threat to sue is a tad more powerful than a request to cancel service.

But, if your goal is simply to get a better deal, when the word cancel is uttered, the dynamic most definitely changes.

Granted, sometimes the individual with whom you’re speaking, be they business owner or customer service representative, just doesn’t care whether they lose your business.

More times than not, though, a good business will make an effort to keep you as a customer.

You see, getting new customers is a difficult, and at times, costly, endeavor.

Which means, it’s best to give a little to keep an existing customer than to spend a lot more luring in new prospects.

And that’s good for those of us looking to save a little money.

Here are a few situations where the phrase, “I’d like to cancel my ______, please,” will likely save you some cold, hard cash.

Cable/Satellite Service

You may be able to negotiate a lower monthly price with your cable or satellite provider without saying you want to cancel, but, more likely than not, you’ll get a much better deal if you do.

A few things to keep in mind with regard to cable and satellite providers, if you’re a fairly new customer, still in your initial contract period, canceling may not be an option. Or it’ll be a costly one.

So, you really need to be out of contract, or near the end of your contract, for the “cancel play” to work.

When making the call to your provider, be nice to the person with whom you’re speaking. Anger or yelling will likely get you absolutely nothing.

And have a competitor’s offer ready to give as your reason for wanting to cancel.

“I’m looking to save some money on my monthly expenses, and XYZ company is offering X services for Y amount, which is a significant savings over what I’m currently paying,” is a phrase you’d want to use when asked why you want to cancel.

Or, if you really don’t care if the service gets canceled, do what I’ve done in the past.

Just say you want to cancel, and when asked the reason, say you’re switching to an antenna and streaming services to save money.

That’s not what cable and satellite companies want to hear these days.

Cord Cutters, while not a large portion of the overall market, are a growing segment. And that means the cable and satellite industry is losing those eyeballs, and dollars, sometimes for good. Not ideal for the long-term viability of cable and satellite companies.

Which means, especially if you’re a DirecTV customer, you might get a similar deal to what I’ve received in the past. You can read my previous experiences, as well as those of others, in the DirecTV topic on the Savings Beagle Discussion Board.

But, you’ve got to be ready to follow through if the provider moves forward with your cancellation request.

Or, if they do begin the cancellation process, you could say you’ll call back to finalize the cancellation once you have your new provider’s hook-up date scheduled.

Then, take that time to decide what you really want to do. You can always try calling again to see if a new rep will be more helpful with finding you a better deal.

Cell Service

Cell phone service used to be a little easier to negotiate.

These days, with most plans offering unlimited text and talk, with data being the only determination for plan pricing, requesting a lower monthly price rarely works.

You could say you’re considering a move to a lower priced competitor (although there is limited pricing differential between the major carriers these days) and request they match the pricing to keep you as a customer.

It’s a long shot, but something to consider.

If you really want to cut your cell phone bill, it’s better to look to prepaid cellular service or Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNOs) providers instead.

I wrote about my experience with a Verizon Wireless MVNO in my post, “Puppy Wireless Offers Lower Pricing Than Verizon.”

AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint all have prepaid and MVNO options, too.

Keep in mind, MVNOs offer cellular service using the same exact cell towers that the “big boys” use but at much lower monthly prices. Meaning, actual voice, text and data service should be comparable to the higher priced options.

Check the site wirefly.com to review some of the offerings.

Satellite Radio

Never pay full price for Sirius/XM satellite radio.

They are always running deals, and all it takes is a call to their customer service number stating you want to cancel your service because of price to get those lower-priced deals.

Getting 4 or 5 month deals for $25 are common offerings. And can be repeated when the previous $25 deal expires.

If you want to lock in a year or more deal, it’s not unheard of to be able to cut your bill in half for those longer term subscriptions.

It just takes a cancellation call to get the better pricing.

Credit Card Annual Fees

Many of the better credit cards – especially lucrative rewards earning cards – come with annual fees.

Fees of $75, $95, even $550 per year are not uncommon.

But, just because a credit card has an annual fee attached doesn’t mean you have to pay.

No, I’m not suggesting you ignore the charge when it shows on your bill. But a quick call may go a long way toward getting the fee removed.

Here are a few tips for getting a fee-free card for the upcoming year.

• Wait to call until the annual fee posts.
• When you call, say you’re “thinking of canceling your card due to the annual fee, and are there any offers to offset the fee?” Banks will say they cannot “waive” annual fees, but they can offset those fees with credits to your account. It’s the same thing really, just semantics.
• If you’re calling about a rewards earning card, they may offer you miles or points instead of a dollar-to-dollar offset. You have to decide if the offer’s right for you.
• Customer service reps don’t always divulge all of the offers – or even the best offer – at first. If you don’t like the initial offer, ask outright what other offers they might have available.
• If you still haven’t gotten what you feel is an acceptable offer, you can (1) continue with the cancellation process and hope that spurs a better offer, or (2) thank them for their time and say you want to think a little more about canceling the card. Then, call back a few days later to see if another representative might be a little more accommodating.

I’ve had “front-line” reps offset my annual fees, but more times than not, you’ll have to be transferred to the credit card’s retention department – which comes after you say you want to cancel – before the offset offers are made.

And, there are a number of unknown factors that go into offsetting an annual fee. Most likely, if you’re a profitable customer – use the card a lot, put large amounts of spend on the card, etc. – they’ll work with you on the annual fee to keep you using the card.

But, not always.

I’ve had cards that I rarely used after getting the initial sign-up bonus, on which I’ve gotten an offer that helped offset the annual fee.

And, there are cards that I use regularly, that get no offers at all.

It just depends.

No matter, it’s still worth giving a “I’m thinking of canceling my card” call a try. You never know how much you’ll save.

Use Professional Negotiators

Some people just hate making these types of calls.

Which is why businesses have formed that will make these calls on your behalf.

Bill Fixers is one of those businesses.

The process is straightforward: Provide Bill Fixers information on the bills you want to be negotiated and they call and haggle for you. Bill Fixers splits the first year’s savings they’re able to negotiate 50/50 with you as payment. If they can’t get you a better deal, you pay nothing.

Bill Fixers does not negotiate credit card annual fees, so you’re on your own with that process.

But for a wide variety of other service providers, such as cable, satellite, cell phone, home phone, etc, they’re ready to find you a better deal.

For some people, this is a viable alternative to making that dreaded cancellation call.

Bottom Line

No matter which route you go, calling yourself or enlisting a company to negotiate on your behalf, don’t let your service bills continue uncontested.

There’s money to be saved out there, and with a little effort, that money can be yours.

What are your “cancellation” experiences?

Call center image courtesy of photostock, cell phone image courtesy of Stuart Miles at freedigitalphotos.net