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Barclay Recon & Cap One Frustration! Advice pls (little long)

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Anonymous
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Barclay Recon & Cap One Frustration! Advice pls (little long)

Hello all!

 

About a year out of my Ch7 bankruptcy (filed 3/14, discharged 7/14), I opened up 2 Capital One cards in July 2015 – 2 Quicksilver One MCs. I have been doing well with them, and they have really helped my rebuilding efforts. My current FICO8 is 670 with TU; not too bad for less than 2 years post CH7 discharge.

 

I was recently approved for 2 new Capital One Cards, a QS Visa with a 5K limit and a VentureOne with a 7.5K limit.   The idea was that eventually I would combine the 2 older Capital One MCs into one for a total of 3 revolving cards. I also have an installment loan satisfactorily being reported currently (car lease) and I have heard it’s best to have 3 revolving accounts and 1 installment loan for optimal scoring.

 

My other plan was to transfer a balance from the old cards over to the new Quicksilver Visa, as it has a 0% APR on balance transfers. What I didn’t realize is that apparently you can’t transfer balances from one Capital One card to another! GRRR!! I never did balance transfers in the past, so I never realized you can’t transfer balances with cards from the same lender (is this the same with all cards, I wonder, or only Capital One?). I’m a bit frustrated that I didn’t think of this!

 

Because I want to zero out the balances on the 2 original Cap One cards, I decided to go ahead and apply for a Barclay Card Arrival World MasterCard. I wasn’t sure if I would be approved, but I figured I’d go for it, as it offers an introductory 0% APR on balance transfers. I applied and originally got the 7-10 day message. I called the recon number, and was told it looked like a denial. However, the very nice representative asked me a bunch of questions about the reason for my bankruptcy, and my job, income, etc. and was able to get me an approval - yay!  (Looks like they pulled TU only, and that is my highest score at 670). However, she only gave me an initial credit line of 1500, which kind of stinks. I’m happy I didn’t waste a HP for a denial, but I’m bummed about the CL. She did say with good use of the card, the credit line could definitely increase over time. However, 1500 is a bit less than the balance I wanted to transfer from my other cards.

 

My question is this – During the recon process, I never mentioned my 2 new Capital One accounts with the higher limits; they haven’t showed up on my credit report yet, as I just recently got them. I would assume since they have high limits, they will boost my score by significantly bringing down my UTIL. Was it a mistake not to mention them to her?

 

My thinking was that if I mentioned that I had recently gotten 2 other credit cards, she would question why I needed the BarclayCard as well. I didn’t mention that I wanted to transfer balances, either.  The recent hard pull from Capital One is on my reports from a few weeks ago, but she didn’t question it.

 

Do you think it would be wise to call recon again and try to boost the starting CLI? Would it help to mention that Cap One recently approved me for prime cards with higher limits or that I want to transfer balances? If I'm not able to modify the credit limit, how much of a balance should I transfer over from the other cards? I want to treat this new card right so that I can get CLI in the future; should I transfer over as much as I can or leave some room on this card so it’s not ‘maxed out?'

 

Any advice appreciated, thank you!!

6 REPLIES 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Barclay Recon & Cap One Frustration! Advice pls (little long)

I'd leave it be for now, use the card heavily and make very large payments, and Barclay will most likely reward you with a CLI at the 6 month mark. I wouldn't advise drawing their attention to other new accounts.

 

Your new Capital One accounts don't even have a history yet and are brand new, so that won't hold much sway with Barclay at this point.

 

Balance transfers can be very iffy with Barclay and I would not recommend doing one on a low limit card. You'll end up using too much of the credit limit on a brand new card for the BT, and that can be a big red flag.

 

 Here are the risk factors already present:

 

Opening up other new accounts

Young profile/ Low AAoA

Recent bankruptcy in profile

Minimal recent positive credit history (since your main cards are new and not even showing on your report yet). Only a few months on one other card.

No history with higher limit cards

 

 

and you want to add:

 

Balance transfer on a brand new account (this can look to a bank as if you are not able to pay off the small amount and instead are transferring it around)

Using a very high percentage of credit limit for that BT, at a time when the bank doesn't know you yet and hasn't seen any positive history from you. You would be creating a utilization spike on a brand new, low-limit card.

 

670 is also probably not a score I would go into recon with Barclay using, given that you are a new customer and have the risk factors above.

 

 

 

Do you see where I am going with this? Hope this helps.

 

Give it some time with the Barclay card and they should give you a CLI at the 6 month mark with lots of usage and large payments.

Message 2 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Barclay Recon & Cap One Frustration! Advice pls (little long)

Thanks for the advice.  I think I will do just that - leave well enough alone.

 

I'm a little frustrated because I didn't want another credit card, but since I got in with Barclays, I want to treat them right.

 

I can pay off the older Cap One cards within a couple of months, I was really just trying to avoid interest on them.  They were 'rebuilder' cards, so the APR is high, about 20%.  

 

To be clear, those are my 'main' cards.  They are almost a year old. The 2 I just got approved for I haven't really used yet. I was trying to zero out the balance on the 2 original cards and combine them, to have a total of 3 credit cards, instead of 4.  Oh well, what can I do - Now I have 5 cards!  Smiley Frustrated  Def will not carry a balance on the other cards.

 

 

 

 

Message 3 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Barclay Recon & Cap One Frustration! Advice pls (little long)

Good luck with your new cards Smiley Happy

 

To answer your other question, no lender will allow balance transfers among cards issued by that same lender. Hope this helps.

 

Try going into online chat with Capital One and see if they are able to offer a temporary interest rate reduction on your current cards that carry the balances.

Message 4 of 7
Anonymous
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Re: Barclay Recon & Cap One Frustration! Advice pls (little long)


It wouldn't hurt to call again and recon the starting limit. Just explain honestly that you wanted to do a balance transfer, but the credit line they gave you isn't enough. I would NOT mention the new cards that haven't reported yet.

Message 5 of 7
Chris679
Established Contributor

Re: Barclay Recon & Cap One Frustration! Advice pls (little long)

That's exactly what I would do
Message 6 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Barclay Recon & Cap One Frustration! Advice pls (little long)

Thanks guys.  I actually did decide to call again and try to have the starting limit increased, but no dice.  They were very nice about it though, and said to give it a few months with this new card.  I'm actually glad I have the chance to get in with Barclays.  At least I didn't waste a HP and it was only TU they pulled up.

 

Thanks for all the advice!

Message 7 of 7
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