What does Capital One do? Should one stick to them even as credit improves?

[Devastator]

They won't give me a CLI.  They without fail for the past two years have said, "We're a conservative lender.  We'll keep monitoring your file.  We appreciate that you have a good record with us."

I have one MC stuck on $500 limit (5 years old). Another stuck on 1500 (1 year old). 

I just tried calling to combine the two, and they won't do even that.  They no longer merge accounts. 

Is it advisable to just close the $500 in order to reduce my subprime cards and to have to deal with Capital One less?

Current score is ~665. Not great, but moving up there.  I have 2 collections, one coming off this month due to age, the other one which is settled and 3 years old. Perfect payment history over the past 3 years on everything.  Have consistently maintained an overal utilization of about 25% for the past year, but I just had to run a big charge on one if the cards bringing overall utilization to 50%.   Just got approved for an AMEX Zync (that's why in the other thread I was asking if it's subprime as I thought AMEX NEVER approves anyone with any delinquency?). I'm expecting to be approved for either a Visa Platinum from my credit union, or a Student Discover card (or both) on Monday.  I applied late on Friday, they said it looked good, but would have to be finalized on Monday). 

Cards I have:

HSBC Mastercard (subprime) 0/600 - 4years

Cap One Mastercard (subprime) 0/500 -5 years ----> This is the card that prompted this thread. 

Cap One Mastercard (subprime) 1400/1500 - 1 year     Yes I know that's a killer, but I can bring it down to 700/1400 within a few months, and pay off within 12 months. 

Chase Visa  800/1300 - 2 years

First Premier Visa 0/575 - 5 years I just called to closed this one, $7 monthly 'administration fee', plus an annual fee of $96.

Chevy Chase Bank LOC - 0/300 - 5 years.

Question, in addition to the First Premier that I just closed, wether or not I get the new credit applied for in addition to the AMEX Zync I've just been approved for, should I just close the subprime accounts, or is there some sort of advantage to keeping them open?  They've both been static for years in terms of changing terms.  HSBC is not even allowing users to request CLIs. 

[blacklotus]

If the Cap1 doesn't have an AF I would keep them open and sock drawer them. I have one CC with a $500 limit that hasn't changed in like 7-8 years but no AF. It does wonders for my Fico score! I don't carry it around with me anymore- IMHO I would just sock drawer those old "subprime" cards and keep that Zync in your wallet- you want to get some usage on that card anyways so you develop a relationship with Amex- if I had all those low limit CC's for as long as you did I'd be ecstatic about that Zync. IMHO I would pay off all those CC's before sock-drawering... IMHO EDIT: LOL! I can imagine after all those years of carrying around low limit cards after you build relationship with Amex next year you apping for the Platinum Card as a "reward" to yourself- shelling out $450 for that thing just to shock the hell out of your friends!

[Uncle_Money]

This is a typical senario with Capital One.

You probably have a rebuilder card and there is only so high it will go no matter how good your credit profile becomes.

To keep or not to keep

This really depends on your situation. I, personally, do not close any accounts. Just sockdraw, use once in a while and PIF.

I would keep it open.

UM

[Devastator]

---

@Uncle_Money wrote:

This is a typical senario with Capital One.

You probably have a rebuilder card and there is only so high it will go no matter how good your credit profile becomes.

To keep or not to keep

This really depends on your situation. I, personally, do not close any accounts. Just sockdraw, use once in a while and PIF.

I would keep it open.

UM

---

Wouldn't that hurt you when you want to upgrade to regular credit cards?  I've heard that "too many open credit accounts" (or a variation thereof) is a not infrequent reason for denial of credit. 

[Wolf3]

Good move on closing First Premiere.  Truly subprime IMO.

American Express is not considered subprime for any of their products.

HSBC and Capital One have both prime and subprime cards.    I would only consider closing them only if they have high annual fee w.r.t. CL.  What are the annual fees?

If you pay down your utilization, your score will improve, you will have better chance at CLI.