My colleague Andrew Davidson asked Matt Schulz of LendingTree why he wrote a whole book about asking questions. Matt said one number stuns people every time he shares it on air.
“About 80% of people who ask for a lower interest rate on their credit card get one. But far too few people ever ask.”
LendingTree’s 2026 survey puts it even higher, the best result in the 6 years LendingTree has asked.
Fewer cardholders asked this year anyway.
Matt’s explanation is human. A bank feels intimidating, so people worry they will “look like an idiot.” Plenty decide no before they dial.
My recommendation for marketers at banks and credit unions: Treat that nervous customer as the brief. Every one of them wants to hear yes, and most of them stay quiet.
An approachable bank answers the question before the customer finds the courage to ask it.
Customers turn themselves down before the bank can say yes. The best offers say yes first.
The same habit shows up at the application. Patrick Rahlfs’ new report, Innovations in Secured Card Marketing, asked US adults with no credit card why they have none.
20% believe they would be turned down. For people who rate their own credit score at 619 or below, it is 41%.
Fintechs now answer the approval question in the first line of the ad. Yendo lets people secure a card with the value of their car, and its ads say “All credit scores welcome to apply.” OnePay, the Walmart fintech, launched a Builder Card that skips the deposit and the credit check.
Discover relaunched its secured card in October with a deposit as low as $49. Patrick sees secured cards becoming a destination in their own right.
The rate question is the one cardholders hesitate to ask. Marisa Frys’ Q3 2026 Credit Card Application Report shows the biggest campaigns answering it in advance.
Wells Fargo wrote it plainest: “We want you to have our lowest possible introductory rate.” That is the exact request Matt’s book scripts for nervous callers, printed in the offer.
Wells Fargo has gained application share for 3 straight quarters, to 6.3%. Cards with no rewards, which usually lead with a low rate, gained share at Bank of America, Citi, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo.
Matt told Andrew about a late payment of his own. He called a major bank, typed in his details, and the phone menu asked him a question first.
“Would you like us to waive that fee for you?”
He said yes, and it was done. LendingTree found the same thing at scale.
Customers count themselves out twice: before they ask for a better rate, and before they apply. The offers that win answer both questions first.
It costs a bank very little. Matt calls a $30 late fee “a grain of sand on the beach” for a big issuer, and the goodwill creates a long-term customer.
“Make it easy to ask and easy to say yes.”
That was Andrew’s closing line. I would go one step further: say yes before they ask.
Somewhere in your customer base, someone wants a lower rate. Someone else wants a late fee waived. Someone wants a first card and assumes the answer is no.
Most of the time, the answer is yes. They are waiting to hear it.
So say it first. The yes nobody asks for is the one they remember.
