Changing credit cards with same company

[Anonymous]

CapitalOne has credit cards with "rewards"and other benefits. I'd like to change the present two CapOne cards I have over to these. Will these cards look like new accounts to credit agencies and change the length of payment history I've built up? Thank you

[haulingthescoreup]

OK, two different things going on:

1. Will Cap One agree to do a product change, and if so, will they show the age of the new card as that of the orignal(s)? --depends on the company. There are a lot of Cap One people here, and you'll hear from them PDQ, I'm sure.

2. What will happen to my length of credit history if they don't keep the same opening date on the new card? --All credit accounts remain on your reports for 10 years after closing. If you had any negatives on them, they will show for 7 years from the time that they happened and then fall off, leaving a minimum of three more years of clean history showing. If the new card reports a current opening date, instead of the old one, your average age of accounts will drop, depending on the age and number of your other accounts.

FICO scoring looks at both age of oldest account and average age. So on oldest age, nothing would change; on average age, it might drop slightly or a lot, depending on how many other accounts you have and how new they are.

[SmartCookie]

Did someone say Cap1? 

Cap1 does not convert cards but they do combine them.  Recently they have starting mailing out 'upgrade' offers with the 1-877-513-9959 account specialist phone number on them.

I would not combine 2 cards unless you've had each for over a year and have tried to top out on your max CL for the cards you have.  It's best also to combine the newer card's CL to the older card's.  Hopefully it will wind up that your older card has no AF.  Cap1 will usually waive AFs if you call them, but they will not change your account from an AF to a non-AF.

The upgrade phone number is giving most cardholders a bunch of options including waiving an AF, lowering APR, increasing CL, or adding rewards.  You can't get all options.  I think the best bet is to increase CL and add rewards to your existing cards and then re-assess when your next AF comes due.

[Anonymous]

CapOne will generally tell you to re-app and most likely will cost you a hard inquiry on each bureau.

[Anonymous]

They don't do product changes in the traditional as AMEX and Chase , the only combine accounts , to do a product change you have to apply for a new account take a hit to each report then combine which will retain the age of the older account.

I  had a 2K card @8.9 fixed for 3.5 years when they jacked to variable, reward a a bad 1/$1 points , is my oldest open card, but had no use for it, so I went to the card lab got 2% on travel and entertaiment 1% on everthing esle, gave a sucky $500 cL , I keep it awhile as my primary card to see want kind of CLI I can get before I combine, to keep my  old account active I deposit those purchase checks they send me in savings then PIF

I'm a slow typer and I got beat to it. :_)

Message Edited by rbbyrbsn on 12-20-2007 01:20 PM

[iDShaDoW]

Bah, just called for my card upgrade and they didn't have ability to up my credit limit... I've had the card for about 3 1/2 years now, never missed a payment or anything, charge something small every month to keep it showing as being used and paid on time. Current Limit: $500 I just ended up choosing to change the 19.8% APR to 4.9% for 4-months then back up to 14%. Guess I'm sticking to my $5000 limit MBNA card. Gonna check my Fico's in the future once I somehow get Bank of America to report my account to all 3 bureaus.

[Anonymous]

I called the upgrade number hoping to change my card to one without an annual fee. (I did not get an upgrade invitation letter.)

The rep said my $1000 CL is hard to work with and after a few attempts he told me he couldn't upgrade my card. He did, however, offer either to credit back the annual fee or offer a $500 CLi. I took the latter of course - its a 50% increase from my current CL and will help with credit score.

Just a week ago I combined 2 Cap 1 cards to one card, also combined limit to $1000. At that time I asked for CLi but was declined.

The number I called is the one provided by Smartcookie and I was surprised that this was a call center in the US and not a person with a European name in India.

PS: Thanks SmartCookie for that number!

Message Edited by Solarjuju on 04-12-2008 05:59 PM