I feel your pain...I goofed and didn't pay off a card before the statement dropped this month. It shows a whopping $156 balance on a 7k CL. I lost 11 points...and now I'll have to wait a month to get them back. Ugh.
wanna-800 wrote:capital one w 2k. I started using my capitol one for the points and all the sudden after only using 1100.00 my score went from 738 to 687! I immediately paid the card off and then started using it again and this time I got an alert that I have spent double--2000.00 and my score went to 660! Again, I paid it off and have not used it since. My score returned to 738.
Cap 1 is not reporting your 2K limit. When you charged $1,100 Your highest balance was reported as $1,100 therefore FICO treated $1,100 as your credit limit. Since your current balance was also $1,100, FICO computed your utilization for the card at 100%. Did you say that you subsequently charged $2,000 on the card? If so you have already taken the best step to counteract Cap 1's notorious policy of not reporting credit limits.
The highest amount that you have charged to date on the card is your "credit limit" for scoring purposes. If that amount is $1,100, you can charge $100 and have a 9 % utility on that card. I wouldn't personally charge any more than that until Cap 1 raised the limit substantially to maybe $5,200.
A no fee balance transfer for $5,000 (no matter what the interest rate) would help if you could get it. You would do the transfer right after a statement closes with a $0 balance and repay it before the next statement closes. That would provide a $5,000+ limit on your credit reports.
When asking Cap1 to raise your credit limit to $5,000 or even $10,000 explain that you want to use the card exclusively "because of the points". and express your "fears" about using the card because of the utilization.
Tell Cap1 your only other alternative is to obtain a new rewards credit card for high volume usage and use the Cap 1 card once a month to buy a newspaper. 
Another plan is to pay in full as you suggested before the statement drops.
You would also be safe paying all but $100-$200 on the card before the statement closes.
If not, is there a way to find out when my balances are reported so I can pay them to zero just before?Usually it is the closing statement balance. You can track and pay the balances online.
https://servicing.capitalone.com/c1/enrollment/enrollment.aspx
I think this is a serious flaw in the FICO systemA well known serious flaw.I don't blame you for being hesitant to use the card. I hope the answers you get by posting here will make you feel better. Let there be light!
I'm afraid to use any of my cards other than my debit card which gives me no points---can anyone shed some light on this? Thank you---
Message Edited by CreditAble on 08-28-2008 12:55 PM
Message Edited by CreditAble on 08-28-2008 12:57 PM
Then, I started using my 25k visa again and I got an alert that my credit usage doubled from a lousy 130.00 balance to a whopping 270 bucks and my score dropped 6 points!!It is highly unlikely that a change $130 - $270 on a 25K card by itself would cause the 6 point drop. Other forces were probably in play like one additional card having a balance.I would like to take this opportunity to make the following observations which might be of interest to you or others.Many in this forum favor having all $0 balances on credit cards at closing to minimize the number of accounts with balances. Generally I am in agreement with this plan of action, however.......For my credit profile I have determined that I get 6 - 8 points more by always having only one credit card report a closing statement balance of at least $150 with all others being 0. If that card only has $125 I don't get the extra 6-8 points. YMMV.To be more precise my target every month is to prepay all credit card accounts before statement closings with the exception of one card. I make sure that card has least $150 - $500 balance reporting to the bureaus. A balance of as much as $1,000 on only one card doesn't seem to make much of a difference to FICO in my particular case.I prefer to have some balances as high as $1,000 report because it creates an incentive for the other cards to continue to compete for my business.If Cap 1 won't raise your credit limit as I had suggested in my earlier post, Try showing a closing balance of $1,000 - $2,000 on your non Cap 1 card for a month or two. Call back and say: " I warned you!...now would you like to raise my credit limit so that I can start using your card again.If you only have all $0 reporting balances, or one regular $150 balance per month, you don't show your credit card providers that you are using their competitors for higher usage. By occasionally allowing bigger balances to report, you keep all card providers competing for your business.The beauty of this system is that all creditors know that you PIF before the statement closes most of the time. When they see $1,000 closing balance post to a competitor's card, a card provider has no idea just how much more additional unreported business you might be giving to the other guy.I have been able to raise my credit limits higher than my usage wouldseem to warrant. I really don't have much concern about utilization...ever.Cap 1 doesn't report limits in order to screw the consumer. I don't report my actual total monthly usage (closing balances) to all credit card companies in order to ...... better my own credit position by playing a similar game. They hide the limits. I hide the closing balances.
One final note.. If you were to apply for a new credit card and you wanted a higher credit limit than you are offered, would you do better on recon with all 0 balances (little or no credit card usage) or a few $1,000+ balances sprinkled around your credit history?
Message Edited by CreditAble on 08-28-2008 02:47 PM
Message Edited by CreditAble on 08-28-2008 03:04 PM