15 costs you shouldn't accept without putting up a fight by Kathleen Elkins and Sarah Schmalbruch on Nov 15, 2015, 2:30 PM Advertisement
 You'd be surprised at how many times you can drive the price down with a bit of tactful negotiating. And, the success rate is shockingly high: 89% of people who have haggled were rewarded at least once, the Consumer Reports National Research Center found. However, too many of us simply refuse to ask for a better deal — from 2010-2013, only 48% of people actually tried to bargain, that same survey found. It can never hurt to ask, especially with these 15 costs: SEE ALSO: I negotiated the price of everything I bought for a week — and it worked half the time Maintaining electronics and computers.  According to Dina Gachman, author of "Brokenomics: 50 Ways to Live the Dream on a Dime," people don't bargain nearly as much as they should. Gachman recalls a time in which she was laid off, unemployed, and had run into some issues with her laptop. After she was told it would cost $250 just to have her laptop checked out by someone, she called the company's 1-800-number and used what she calls "trigger words" to lower the repair cost. These words include "inconvenience," "corporate responsibility," "loyal customer," and "please."
College tuition.  If you're a member of one of those families in which all the siblings end up attending the same school, personal finance blogger Len Penzo points out that some colleges are known to give discounted tuition or financial aid when multiple family members attend. No siblings? Forbes suggests leveraging a high GPA for more scholarship money instead.
Mortgage rates.  Mortgage rates are fair game for bargaining — with a little legwork. "Shop around, get quotes, make sure your credit score is stellar, and you should be able to talk about lowering things like processing fees," Gachman writes. If you have strong credit, use that as leverage — credit score is one of the most important factors in determining your mortgage rate.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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