Capitol One is not great... IMO

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing how you feel about Cap One everyone!

[sjt]

Wanted to add that your least likely to get an FR, CLD, AA, or an outright shut down wth Cap1 compared to other lenders.

[Anonymous]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

From my perspective: While I have never had a reason to do business with Capital One, I do see their appeal.

Capital One is a very good option if you are building or (to a greater extent) rebuilding credit. They are probably the easiest major issuer to receive a card from, and they tend to be especially forgiving towards baddies. They also tend to give out pretty good credit lines, especially if you're an established customer, and there are ample opportunities to grow up within the system.

With that being said, Capital One has never presented itself as a relevant option to me. I started my credit building with a joint account from Discover (something I can't really recommend, because getting a CLI is like pulling teeth and getting out of it seems to be impossible), and my second card was a Costco Amex (and if you can get an Amex CC, you don't really need to worry about getting anything else). Capital One's rewards cards are consistently good, but not great- there is almost always a card on the market with more competitive rewards. QS is the best they've got, and Citi Double Cash is a better counterpart. To me, perhaps barring some store card that may be issued by them, Capital One will probably never be relevant; I'm financially responsible, and I never see myself getting to the point of damaging or destroying my credit and needing to rebuild. I gather that you're in the same boat. 

However, if you already have a history with Capital One, QS and Venture are more appealing. As you know, these cards are likely the best you can do by far if you're rebuilding with Capital One. They also tend to be good to you if you're good to them, however- and a lot of customers consequently want to remain within the system.

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I have and use, and am initimately familiar with, both cards.

Here are some of the advantages of Quicksilver over Citi Double Cash:

(a) you get good balance transfer offers on an ongoing basis... not so for Citi DC

(b) you can redeem your cash rewards immediately and whenever you feel like it in whatever amount you feel like... not so for Citi DC

(c) you earn all your cash reward points immediately upon a purchase posting... not so for Citi DC, where you wait up to a month for the front end and up to 2 months for the back end

(d) you get auto CLI's... not so for Citi DC

(e) you can request a soft pull CLI any time...  not so for Citi DC

(f) no foreign transaction fees....   not so for Citi DC

(g) you don't diminish your rewards by taking them as a statement credit...  not so for Citi DC.

For me, Quicksilver is the "better counterpart".

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Also, DC tends towards ridiculously low limits.  I don't know anyone who complain (with reason) that Cap 1 doesn't give them a fair CL.  Is there anyone who can say that DC is one of their highest limits? I only have three cards with a higher CL than my Plat (and I should get a CLI on the Plat before any of those three). Meanwhile, the only card with a lower CL than my DC is a gas card that I never use.

[Anonymous]

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@catherine412 wrote:

 I think a big benefit of capital one (as I currently have capital one) is that they give nearly everyone a chance at first. I haven't had any real problems with them, card-wise. They don't slice my credit limits, they don't give me any problems. They have the online system, but now most credit cards have that anyways. I did call customer service once simply to ask something simple about activating my card, or something like that, and whoever the lady was on the telephone, she laughed in my face and then whacked me with a hard inquiry for calling...I thought that was unnecessary as a first time credit owner, at the time, I didn't have the knowledge that I would get hit with that (luckily it disappeared after years, the inquiry.). I mean gosh, to have such big credit card company names, C.S. should at least be nice on the phone to you and this is coming from someone who worked in a call center too, so I am defensive of that type of type of work area but really she laughed? really? Kinda put a bad taste in my mouth but I ignore it because I have zero problems with my card, my payments online, my end of the year statement, everything is very basic and easy to understand.

Another con is that their Credit Wise free credit score checker thing doesn't work for me at all--not on several different computers, and not on their app from my cell phone. It says it can't find the information (even with my social entered in???), and doesn't give me any score, whereas I can check my score from Credit Sesame and other websites no problem.

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And I have the other problem.  I have no problem with Credit Wise (or any other free scoring service I know of), but I simply cannot get Credit Seseme to work.

And that gets to the crux of this disucssion.  YMMV.  Cap 1 simply doesn't work for you (or the OP).  And that's perfectly OK. And maybe those of us with Cap 1 would be better off elsewhere.  However, there are legitimate (or even purely emotional) reasons that Cap 1 works for some of us.  But not for all of us.

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Also, DC tends towards ridiculously low limits.  I don't know anyone who complain (with reason) that Cap 1 doesn't give them a fair CL.  I

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I think that is certainly the case for most now.  BUt two or three years back, THE huge :Crap 1" complaint (apart from triple pull) was low CLs that didn't grow.  Maybe Citi will eventually do the same, or maybe no AF 2% cards are just too risky for high CLs.

[Subexistence]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Subexistence wrote:

At my college only 2 banks are available which are CapitalOne and Secumd. Naturally I would need to get accounts at both since ease of access is important. CapitalOne is one of the few banks that let me create an account while I was still 17 because they wanted to provide all college freshman bank access which was really nice. Since CapitalOne was the first account I ever made, I direct deposit all my part time job income there. The day I turned 18, I applied for their student card but was rejected and I still resent them for giving me a hard inquiry but nothing in return. I guess the good part is that it won't be a card I have to maintain and of course I don't itnend on having capitalone as one of my lifelong cards so it saves me the process of disposing it in the future. In short the only benefit from capitalone for me is ease of access.

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Interesting you say they are the only ones available... I have accounts with banks that are over a thousand miles away and have never stepped foot into one of their branches. The nearest NFCU to me is 30 minutes away. Now days there is really no need for a bank branch imo.

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Well how many let you register at 17?