Asking for a Credit Limit increase = A hard pull with capital one?

[Anonymous]

Hi all. Long time lurker, first time poster.

I have been with the secured Capital One Platinum Card for about 2 years starting with a score of 510 actual.
I have since bumped my credit score to 761 actual fico.

I just recently applied for and now have 2 Chase cards and Amex Everyday Cash with a total of about 9000 available credit..

This capital one card really serves me no benefit any longer and I was thinking of asking for a credit limit increase to improve my utilization and available credit.

However I have 3 old inquires from about a year ago and 4 very new inquires. (1 being denied discover it card due to lack of revolving credit accounts).

One of those old inquires was from capital one that I did not authorize and it was about a year ago.

So i guess with all my ramblings, I am asking if I ask for an increase will I get hard pulls?

It only has a 500 dollar limit with 200 of that secured.

Would I be better off closing it?

My other 3 cards are brand new and I don't want to lose my oldest account but I cannot forsee ever using this card again in its current state.

[HeavenOhio]

If you close the card, it should stay on your report for up to ten years. By then, your new cards should be sufficiently propping up your AAoA.

It seems odd that you have a Capital One hard inquiry that you "did not authorize." Do you have any clue how that happened? At this point, the inquiry has gotten old enough that I wouldn't bother putting an effort into fighting it.

Capital One doesn't hard pull for CLI requests, so there should be no harm in requesting one. However, rather than the low limit, I'd be more concerned about the fact that this card is secured. If you don't think there's a chance to unsecure it, I'd look at closing it.

You don't mention whether it has an annual fee. If it does, that would be another reason to close. If there's no fee and you don't mind the fact that you still have some money tied up in it, there's no harm in keeping it.

[Anonymous]

I would close the card and get your 200 dollars back.   The number of inquiries you have is low.  After one year they don't effect your score.  I have 10 in six months and have lower scores than you and I get approved for prime cards.  If you have 3 cards that is all you need to maximize your score.  

[Anonymous]

Can you request a cli on their secured card? I thought you could not if you do will you post your results I might try on mine too. Lol

[Anonymous]

HeavenOhio, I have no idea where that inquiry came from a year ago. I have not applied for anything since I have had the card. There is no anual fee but it has a high APR. 

Thanks a lot for the info. Its really helpful. I think once my Amex and Chase accounts post to my reports I will close it.

cgardencredit1 I think you are right, I don't think you can request an increase on the secured card now that you mention it.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I really apreciate it.

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the forum!

[AverageJoesCredit]

With your credit being better now you just might be better off applying for a different cap one card so as not to bracketed in the bad credit club. Youll probably get a better card with better limit and growth potential

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

HeavenOhio, I have no idea where that inquiry came from a year ago. I have not applied for anything since I have had the card. There is no anual fee but it has a high APR. 

Thanks a lot for the info. Its really helpful. I think once my Amex and Chase accounts post to my reports I will close it.

cgardencredit1 I think you are right, I don't think you can request an increase on the secured card now that you mention it.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I really apreciate it.

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Whether you 'authorized' a HP at that time or not, you gave Capital One permission to pull your credit reports at any time when you signed up for the card.  This is something that a lot of people do not realize and we quite often see posts where people state that a creditor had no legal right to pull a HP.  Under existing credit card law, creditors have a permissible right to your reports at any time once you open an account with them.  It's unfortunate when  it happens but it does from time to time. The good news is that the bad effects of an HP tend to be vastly overstated on these forums. Given that it is a year old, it's effect in your FICO scores has or is going away.

[HeavenOhio]

They have the right to pull our credit, but the pulls are supposed to be coded according to their purpose. Depending on the coding, they'd turn into a hard or soft pull. Seeking new credit results in a hard pull, while an account review is soft. It appears that CLIs fall into a gray area as they could be treated as new credit or granted based on account reviews.

[Anonymous]

I have now and started with $1800 credit limit with barclaycard and been with them 18 months and they still haven’t offered me a increase I have 6 other credit cards , premier, capital one, legacy, Merrick bank and the not so good one Creditone.. but they all offered me a increase but barclaycard I do have a 3 year BR on my credit report .. but don’t know why barclaycard isn’t offereing me one and don’t want to ask bc of the HP.. and just recently I was offered a pre approved discover card .. so any advice for me .. I just want to raise my score so I can get a VA loan to buy a house.. I’m a disabled veteran and I only receive $4200 a month..