{"id":14060,"date":"2014-11-20T15:07:05","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T19:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.befrugal.com\/blog\/?p=14060"},"modified":"2014-11-20T15:07:05","modified_gmt":"2014-11-20T19:07:05","slug":"5-bills-you-can-haggle-before-starting-your-holiday-shopping","status":"archive","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.befrugal.com\/blog\/frugal-articles\/5-bills-you-can-haggle-before-starting-your-holiday-shopping\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Bills You Can Haggle Before Starting Your Holiday Shopping"},"content":{"rendered":"

A guest article by Jaime Netzer from\u00a0The Zebra<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Bills\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Black Friday is around the corner, and you\u2019re no doubt already brainstorming ways to save on the cost of presents for your nearest and dearest this year. But what if we told you there was a simple, time-efficient way you could save big before<\/i> you ever hopped in the chilly car that post-Thanksgiving morning?<\/p>\n

Haggling is an art form, and it\u2019s not one every shopper is particularly comfortable with. In fact, a recent Edmunds.com survey<\/a> found that a whopping 91 percent of millennials prefer not to haggle over price when shopping for cars. In the same survey, 78 percent of baby boomers also said they hated the haggling process. Now car shopping is particularly stressful, but the truth is, negotiating over price is always a bit of a challenge: We all have emotional relationships with money, and haggling requires asserting yourself in a way we\u2019re just not usually faced with.<\/p>\n

But that clich\u00e9 about the squeaky wheel getting the grease? It\u2019s true. And the one about how you\u2019ll never know if you don\u2019t ask? That one\u2019s true, too.\u00a0 So we rounded up five bills you have a great shot at haggling down, saving you precious money before you even start your holiday shopping.<\/p>\n

Car Insurance:<\/b> Though it seems like it should, especially when it comes to car insurance, customer loyalty doesn\u2019t always pay<\/a>. Though it\u2019s true that you can often earn discounts from bundling policies and adding drivers to your policy, it\u2019s also true that staying with the same company year after year often doesn\u2019t save you as much as shopping around and comparing rates<\/a> from multiple companies would. In fact, a recent J.D. Power survey found that drivers who compare rates and switch companies save on average $300. That\u2019s an iPhone 6 you just earned yourself from one change!<\/p>\n

Utility bills:<\/b> LaTisha Styles, a personal finance blogger and millennial money expert<\/a>, had some luck about this time two years ago with her gas company: \u201cI was able to get a 45 percent discount just by calling my gas company,\u201d Styles explains. \u201cI started off on a higher price per term and after being a customer for a year, I called them and I was able to get a lower price per term. To do this, I had to go with their six-month plan. This set my gas price for 6 months instead of fluctuating like it normally does. Even a discount of 20-30 percent would help with this bill, especially in the winter. Contact your gas service provider and ask them what specials they have at the moment. You might be surprised at what discounts you are eligible for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cable Bill:<\/b> We know you\u2019re serious about getting your Scandal<\/i> and Walking Dead<\/i> fixes\u2014isn\u2019t it time you got serious about how much you\u2019re paying for your TV habit, too? Start by doing your homework, then call up your current cable provider and explain to them the great special that their biggest competitor just happens to be offering right now. From there, it\u2019s simple: All you have to ask is, \u201cCan you match this deal?\u201d Or, if you\u2019re feeling really brave: \u201cCan you beat this deal?\u201d Then listen carefully, make sure you actually want all everything included in the package described, and if so, pull the trigger.<\/p>\n

Bank Charges:<\/b>\u00a0 Shannon McClay, a personal finance blogger at Financially Blonde<\/a>, says bank charges are more negotiable than you\u2019d think. \u201cYou should definitely haggle bank charges like ATM fees, account maintenance charges or overdraft fees,\u201d McClay says. \u201cIt doesn't matter how big your relationship is with the bank, you are a valuable customer to them and as long as you are using debit card, and keeping a balance, you are making the bank money. The key when you call the bank is to be specific about your request. They will never refund your fees if you just call to complain about them. When you see the fees hit your account, pick up the phone, call the bank and say that you want those specific fees refunded. I have done this personally and advise clients to do it all the time\u2014and they have never been told no.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medical Bills:<\/b> Tiffany Aliche, a blogger at The Budgetnista<\/a>, also haggled down a bill just before the holidays last year: a medical one. \u201cI am an entrepreneur and, at the time, did not have medical insurance,\u201d Aliche explains. \u201cWhile trying to prepare for the holidays, I decided to dye my hair at home.\u00a0 Little did I know, I was one of the .5% of individuals allergic to black hair dye.\u00a0 As a result, my forehead expanded to twice the size, forcing me to go the emergency room. Three weeks later I received an $800 bill in the mail.\u00a0 That bill put a serious damper on my planned holiday spending.\u00a0 I decided to call and see if I can negotiate it down and was successful!\u00a0 After a few minutes, they agreed\u2014accepting a lump sum payment of $500.<\/p>\n

Aliche says the lump sum was a key part of her strategy\u2014 \u201cI simply called and said I did not have $800 to pay, but what I did have was $500 to make in a lump sum payment immediately. \u201c<\/p>\n

Do you have other tips for bill haggling? Time worn strategies or specific phrases that always get you what you want? Share any secrets in the comments!<\/p>\n

Thanks to Brendan Wood for the\u00a0photo<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>

A guest article by Jaime Netzer from\u00a0The Zebra Black Friday is around the corner, and you\u2019re no doubt already brainstorming ways to save on the cost of presents for your ... Read more5 Bills You Can Haggle Before Starting Your Holiday Shopping<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2318,2314,2317,2169,839,2319,1263,1413,1946,2316,2315],"class_list":["post-14060","post","type-post","status-archive","format-standard","hentry","category-frugal-articles","tag-bank-fees","tag-bills","tag-cable","tag-car-insurance","tag-holiday-shopping","tag-medical-bills","tag-personal-finance","tag-saving-money","tag-thanksgiving","tag-the-zebra","tag-utilities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.befrugal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.befrugal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.befrugal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.befrugal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.befrugal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.befrugal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14060\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.befrugal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.befrugal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.befrugal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}