This thread is my advice for those who have a specific credit card from a specific issuer.
While, in your case is from a specific user, I'll point out that this is actually true of MOST credit cards. It's a known fact, presented in many finance articles and financial management training programs that if you have a good record with your CC company, you can often call to negotiate a lower interest rate.
While I am one of the holy zeros*, I can understand perhaps having to carry a balance occasionally. If you have to do so, having a ready credit of like 8% is better than 11%, which is better than the default 21% of many cards, which is better than payday loans and pawn shops.
Heck, at 8% in an emergency I'd put the money on my card rather than pull it out of my investments(currently down), as I figure they're going to recover more than .7% a month in the next couple months.
What would I define as an emergency? Well, if my furnace suddenly failed, costing $3k to fix. I can pay that off in ~4 months, but I can't do without heat in March, much less February in ND. Medical expenses. Sudden death in the familiy(quick plane ticket home). Stuff that I can pay off in a couple months, but are beyond my monthly flex(known as 'no future car contribution' or 'no contribution to the Roth this month' which is okay since I was contributing $400/month, which maxes out the roth in 10 months). $700/month in 'emergency or invest' allows me quite a bit of slack.
1. No/reduced optional contribution to investments(still have 10% contribute to tax-deferred accounts). < $700
2. Less than a month CC debt < $1400
3. Short term CC debt < $3000
4. Pull money out of emergency fund < $12k
5. I'm in trouble. > $12k
*I have a house payment at 4.75%. Monthly payment is less than 10% of my income. I could pay it off next week, but that would require killing my emergency/early retirement/new car fund.