Importance

• Credit ratings strongly affect your ability to get loans, since lenders use credit scores to evaluate the riskiness of doing business with loan applicants. Landlords and potential employers may also review your credit rating to gain insight on how well you handle money and credit. Consumers with low credit ratings often pay higher interest rates, land lower credit limits on credit cards or are denied applications for preferred credit card accounts. High credit ratings often reflect low debt balances compared with income, a history of making on-time payments and long-lasting relationships with creditors. Low credit ratings are linked with high debt-to-income ratios, missed payments, and accounts that have been turned over to collection agencies.
  
  

Interest Requests

• Simply calling credit card companies and requesting that your interest rate be frozen is unlikely to have an effect on your credit rating, since credit card companies don't report such interaction to bureaus tracking your credit history. But that doesn't mean that your request will be effective; company representatives may deny the request.
  
  

Opting Out

• On the other hand, credit card companies are legally required to notify consumers when interest rates are being raised. At this point, you may request that interest rates be frozen at the existing rate by writing a letter stating that you're opting out of the rate increase. However, credit card companies may then require that you pay off the balance in full in order to opt out of the interest rate increase. If you can afford to do this, paying off the balance will positively affect your credit rating. Closing down the account in either instance may negatively affect your credit rating, since available credit drops on your overall credit history -- immediately increasing your debt-to-income ratio, unless you're otherwise debt-free, according to Bank Rate.com.
  
  

Request Tips

• If you do plan to contact your credit card company to request that interest be frozen on your credit cards, first gather together or request all information related to the account, including balance owed, current interest rate, payment history and account opening date, according to ABC News.com. You may first request by phone, explaining that you'd like interest rates to be frozen to better pay down debt. Pointing out your long-standing relationship with the company, history of on-time payments and opportunities to transfer balances to other credit cards (if these items are true) may help make the case for freezing your interest rates. Follow up with a formal written letter.