Activating Cards

[Anonymous]

Just curious if there is a deadline by which you need to activate your card before some kind of penalty is incurred?  If not, does an account with an unactivated card report the same as if you activated the card and never used it?   

No practical reason for the questions, just pure curiousity.

[Tazman81]

Most companies will close your card after a certain amount of time with not activating it.  Usually they try to contact you to make sure you were the one that received the card.  I am not sure if it will report the same if you never activate it.

[kjm79]

It reports the same either way.  May have a notation that says closed due to inactivity, but that doesn't really mean anything. 

[Wolf3]

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@ptrutkowski wrote:

Just curious if there is a deadline by which you need to activate your card before some kind of penalty is incurred?  If not, does an account with an unactivated card report the same as if you activated the card and never used it?   

No practical reason for the questions, just pure curiousity.

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In general most accounts are open when you are approved.    Activating the card is just for fraud protection and often an opportunity to sell you a bunch of serviices.   So it will usually report anyway.

[johnnie198x]

I was wondering if anyone could help me with this, or did something similar.

I intend to apply for another Crap1 card since the one I have right now is a rebuilder card and its CLI is stuck. However, I don't want another 2k Crap1 card. I will only consider 5k and above.

My question is: If I apply and approved for less than 5k, could I call them to ask them to deny me? I don't want to be approved and close it afterwards.

[Anonymous]

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@johnnie198x wrote:

I was wondering if anyone could help me with this, or did something similar.

I intend to apply for another Crap1 card since the one I have right now is a rebuilder card and its CLI is stuck. However, I don't want another 2k Crap1 card. I will only consider 5k and above.

My question is: If I apply and approved for less than 5k, could I call them to ask them to deny me? I don't want to be approved and close it afterwards.

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I don't think they can deny you after they've already approved you.  Once they approve you they give you an account number so at that point you would need to keep the account open or simply close it.

[Anonymous]

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@johnnie198x wrote:

I was wondering if anyone could help me with this, or did something similar.

I intend to apply for another Crap1 card since the one I have right now is a rebuilder card and its CLI is stuck. However, I don't want another 2k Crap1 card. I will only consider 5k and above.

My question is: If I apply and approved for less than 5k, could I call them to ask them to deny me? I don't want to be approved and close it afterwards.

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Pretty sure they can't deny you once the account has been approved. I'm not sure if there's any 'rejected by customer' type option. Either way you'd take the credit pull. And chances are you'd take the hit for the account opening and closing, unless it was closed before it reports the first time. With it being Capital One.. I honestly wouldn't attempt it unless you're willing to take 3 HPs and the hit for a new account opening and closing immediately.

That being said, why on earth would you apply for a Cap One card if you want a high credit limit? I think the only cards that might start at a high limit are their Venture cards, and even then 5k might be asking too much from them. I think almost any other bank is going to be more likely to give you a high limit card. Cap One makes it sound like a $1-2k card is HUGE.

[laz98]

we haven't had any of our cards closed for inactivity just because we haven't activated the cards, but that's not to say that it can't happen.  we let our bank of america cards sit around unactivated for about 2 years before we finally had to use them for something.  as a matter of fact, we just got new ones about a month ago, & haven't activated those, either.  keeps us from spending.  i'm sure some lenders are a little more nit-picky about things like that, though.

[johnnie198x]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@johnnie198x wrote:

I was wondering if anyone could help me with this, or did something similar.

I intend to apply for another Crap1 card since the one I have right now is a rebuilder card and its CLI is stuck. However, I don't want another 2k Crap1 card. I will only consider 5k and above.

My question is: If I apply and approved for less than 5k, could I call them to ask them to deny me? I don't want to be approved and close it afterwards.

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Pretty sure they can't deny you once the account has been approved. I'm not sure if there's any 'rejected by customer' type option. Either way you'd take the credit pull. And chances are you'd take the hit for the account opening and closing, unless it was closed before it reports the first time. With it being Capital One.. I honestly wouldn't attempt it unless you're willing to take 3 HPs and the hit for a new account opening and closing immediately.

That being said, why on earth would you apply for a Cap One card if you want a high credit limit? I think the only cards that might start at a high limit are their Venture cards, and even then 5k might be asking too much from them. I think almost any other bank is going to be more likely to give you a high limit card. Cap One makes it sound like a $1-2k card is HUGE.

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I like their free balance transfer, because I can float money around. I saw some people here have 10k limit Crap1.

Are you sure that if it's closed before it reports, it won't report? My best guess would be they'll still report as closed. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I'm not even in the slightest sure that it wouldn't report - chances are, it WILL report as closed. What I meant is that the only way around it I could see is if they never reported the account as having been opened in the first place - i.e. they don't even do their first update for the account. But I really wouldn't count on it.

I think the people who have $10k lines from Cap One are the definite exception to the rule. I think the only way that's possible is with a Venture card (or Cash Rewards/Platinum Prestige). And I'd be surprised if they started anyone that high.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that the only way I could see you getting a high enough CLI to start with is if you applied for one of their highest tier cards meant for excellent credit. But as they like to say, they're a "conservative" lender, so I wouldn't expect a high CL no matter what.