“Ask and you shall receive!” Nine out of every ten people who call their credit card company and ask them to waive a late fee are successful according to Creditcards.com.

WSB Consumer expert Clark Howard says this means the power has gone back to the consumer.

"If you’re hit with a late fee odds are very strong that you can call up, if it hasn’t been a pattern of late payments, and get a late fee waived," says Howard.

He says most of us are getting so many offers for new credit cards that the consumer can easily play one credit card against another. If someone’s current card company does not want to work with them then they can drop the company and go with a different issuer.

Even though most people are able to get late fees dropped only twenty-eight percent of card holders asked for late fees to be waived. Why are people not asking?

Clark says, "People are busy and they just don't think that the big bad bank will listen to them."

He says once someone is 90 days from the late payment they may want to consider asking for a better rate. He says now is a good time to shop around and get a better rate on credit cards.  He says if not, a lot of opportunity, and potentially money, could be left on the table.