I was actually thinking about that last night, well closing my former household card that Cap1 took over. I have been going in circles with getting it upgraded to a no annual fee card (Executive office, reps, message). Always a big fat no. My annual fee is coming next month so I emailed via secure message expecting the same response. Out of nowhere, today they offer me the Quicksilver with 0.00 annual fee. I have not used the card in 7 months so don't know if that helped. Cap one is a strange bird. I was about to close it.
100% Ficos: EX 780 , TU 783, EQ 776 inquiries last 2 years/1 year/6 months: EX-0/0/0, TU-0/0/0, EQ-1/0/0~ last credit card app 6/24/13- New car loan 3/8/2014- Discover IT $12,500~Kohls $1000~Amex BCE $4000~ Walmart Discover $7500~NFCU Signature CashRewards $23,300 Chase Freedom MC $6000~ Chase Amazon Visa $1900~ Cap 1/HSBC MC $3800~ Amazon Store $7000~ Fingerhut $1050
I stilll have the converted HSBC card its my lowest limit card, no AF and I keep it for its 9.9% APR. I also had several Cap-1 Platinums that I upgraded to QS-1s then burned them since they would not commute the AF. Closed the last of those in jan 14, in Dec 14 I apped for Sony Card and was approved for 5K and its not in the credit steps program so yes you can get treated better by apping for new cards.
@ecxpa wrote:
@wacdenney wrote:
@ecxpa wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Not so sure it's because of AF's.
you are probably right.....they are a successful company. The annual fees however are a huge generator of income for this company. They generally won't waive AF and the popular QS1 is tagged with an AF. I don't know how many of their cards have AF but I see a lot of griping about them on this board. So maybe the annual fees are not their meat and potatoes but the little cherry on their dessert.
There's nothing wrong with AF's in general. I have several cards that carry AF's like Marriott for example. The difference is that in most cases AF's are applied where a card provides exceptional benefits.
The exceptional benefit provided by the QS1 is in the granting of credit to a sub-prime borrower. If you can't get anything else than having the card at all is exceptional to you. The problem arrises when people move up out of the sub-prime category. You move and grow, but the card does not.
You are absolutely right and I have no pblms with AF either as I have several prime cards with AF's including Amex Green, CS, and CSP. There are perks from some prime cards that make it worth it along with letting you combine limits. I guess that Cap 1 is such a big and visible player in the CC business people have started to expect more from them and don't actually see them as a sub-prime lender....they do have some good cards. I'm just saying they should allow loyal customers to progress and grow.
Synchrony cards may be looked at as subprime but for me they have had astronomical growth and I can see them one day becoming a big competitor with Cap 1. I think a Wal-Mart card is as easy to get as a QS1.......but you get a Wal-Mart card or Sam's Club card and use it and pay it responsibly and you are graduated to a MC version that you can get a CLI on in just a few mos.
But back to my original question .......does closing cards that have transitioned to Cap 1 give you a better chance of getting a decent Cap 1 product?
The QS1 is a far, far better card than Wally / Sams or the upgrade. Heck the upgrade I think still reports as a brand new account, that's pretty suboptimal for a card that doesn't provide a lot of benefit when looked at objectively.
1.5% flat for $39 AF to people 600 or even lower... actually pretty certain it underwrites under Wally land. Only thing comparable is a BOFA Cash Rewards card... literally those are the best two products in the subprime market.
Have to keep things in perspective in the time domain too, Wally was reasonably good for CLI chasing previously and a FICO score which can be obtained in a bunch of places now for free and I don't know that it's loopy CLI's anymore though I haven't tried. Rationally, even on this FICO forum Wally should be decreasing in popularity. Limits are much easier to obtain now than they were 5 years ago, and as soon as you can get in with Amex on a revolver (which isn't that hard to do currently either) that's the gateway to higher limits generally... if Chase doesn't pre-empt them first with their apparent marketing strategy.
I used to recommend Wally as a reasonable building card for some of the reasons stated above, and even got one in my own credit journey... but now it's way down the list and I suspect I'm just going to kick it to the curb regardless of how this mortgage trip turns out. Just another unnecessary retail card.
