Swipes vs. Purchase Amount

[Anonymous]

I did some thinking this morning about what is considered heavy usage... I'm currently trying to get the wifes Platinum to PC and I keep reading about heavy usage, yada yada yada.

I did some searching and there doesnt seem to be a recent concensus on this subject that I could find... So I ask.

What have y'all found to be more important when it comes to heavy usage?

Swipes?

OR

Total Money Run through your card?

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I did some thinking this morning about what is considered heavy usage... I'm currently trying to get the wifes Platinum to PC and I keep reading about heavy usage, yada yada yada.

I did some searching and there doesnt seem to be a recent concensus on this subject that I could find... So I ask.

What have y'all found to be more important when it comes to heavy usage?

Swipes?

OR

Total Money Run through your card?

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There is doubt from some quarters that usage really helps, that your credit report is much more critical.    But think of it from the point of view of the issuer, they want to make money, they get a % of the purchase, and maybe a small amount per swipe (shared with several parties).   So the profit comes from total purchases, they almost certainly wouldn't be that happy with say 100 $1 swipes compared to 1 $5,000 purchase

[kdm31091]

A bunch of tiny, pack of gum type swipes are probably less important to the issuer vs using the card for more "everyday", larger purchases and then paying the bill.

That said -- we're talking about Capital One here. They are not a bad company, but they are disorganized, they outsource their service, and the left hand often says a completely different thing from the right. There's a very strong chance they may never let you PC the card, for a random reason that no one will be able to explain. So I wouldn't put too much energy into it because you may end up disappointed. Usage may not be the missing link here. Capital One is a strange lender. Some accounts just have some kind of coding where Capital One will NEVER let you PC it, and it's questionable how much effort it's worth (and putting spend on a zero rewards card) vs just applying for the account one actually wants. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

From my research it's been very hard for people to PC the old platinum cards with AFs or the ones without the AF that were issued a few years back.

From what I've read, thhe Platinum to QS is very common now days, but yes, YMMV. Hopefully her score grows within the coming months and she will qualify "in their eyes" to PC.

But, I was basically curious what people thought about heavy usage.

[Anonymous]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

A bunch of tiny, pack of gum type swipes are probably less important to the issuer vs using the card for more "everyday", larger purchases and then paying the bill.

That said -- we're talking about Capital One here. They are not a bad company, but they are disorganized, they outsource their service, and the left hand often says a completely different thing from the right. There's a very strong chance they may never let you PC the card, for a random reason that no one will be able to explain. So I wouldn't put too much energy into it because you may end up disappointed. Usage may not be the missing link here. Capital One is a strange lender. Some accounts just have some kind of coding where Capital One will NEVER let you PC it, and it's questionable how much effort it's worth (and putting spend on a zero rewards card) vs just applying for the account one actually wants. YMMV.

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Update on the Capital One Platinum PC... just got off chat and she had an offer on her account the PC the Platinum to the No AF QS card. 2nd statement hasn't cut yet.

[Anonymous]

I was curious about this as well... the whole total dollars verses number of transactions.  Say you are going to spend $1000 on a card that month regardless, wouldn't the CC company prefer 100 $10 transactions verses 1 $1000 transaction?  While the percentage they take in on those thousand dollars would be the same, they'd receive 100x more per-transaction fees no?  Whether or not that fee is a penny, pennies or more (I have no idea) I would think the CC company would certainly prefer to have that extra profit rather than not have it.  If you're a person that is known to PIF every month and the CC company never makes a penny of interest off of you and all they have to go on is transaction dollars and swipes, I'd think they'd want not only as many dollars as possible but also as many swipes to go along with it.  Am I wrong here?