topic Re: Capitol one. Help.. so annoying.. in Credit Cards

Capitol one. Help.. so annoying..

remarc — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 01:55:06 GMT

I recently got a letter from Capitol one about being pre-approved for a Cash Rewards card.. I called up Capitol One to ask if I could upgrade one of my current Platinum cards and they told me NO, I would need to apply for the cash rewards if I wanted a better APR and higher limit. I thought what I would do is keep the balance of the other two cards at zero which they currently are and I would just use the rewards card instead..

Capitol one denied me which is odd seeing they pre-arrived me and that when I checked my score before applying it was at E.639 EQ.698 Trans.659 and i hold only a balance on one other card over 4 cards which is under 35% ratio.. so my debt ratio is great right now.

I called to ask why and no one could give me a answer , just said i would get a letter in 7 to 10 days..

Why is capitol one so hard to work with.. they have only giving me 1 limit increase in two years.. ive never been late and never missed a payment. I feel like just letting my capitol one card sit in my draw and never use them... the annoying thing is it will hit my credit score for a hard pull..

Not a happy camper

on a side note.. what does it mean when people talk about a manual review of your credit regarding getting a card?

cheers

Re: Capitol one. Help.. so annoying..

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 01:59:55 GMT

Capiol One can be very hard to work with. I started with 2 Cap One cards to establish credit, but as soon as I got an Amex after 8 months of history, the 2 Cap One cards were basically sock drawered until last month when I went ahead and closed them. Some lucky people get credit limit increases, but most people get stuck with the initial limit, unless they get the 1 or 2 credit steps bumps or a card for excellent credit.

Re: Capitol one. Help.. so annoying..

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:09:57 GMT

Once you hit the mid 600 and on it's best to ditch CapOne and move on to greener pastures. Their subprime RARELY graduate to prime cards. CLIs are extremely sporadic. Customer service, if you can call it that, is basically non existent.

It ends up being a mutually agreed breakup. They don't want you anymore...and you probably don't want them.

Re: Capitol one. Help.. so annoying..

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:16:13 GMT

If I read it correctly, you have 2 platinum cards with them? That could be the reason right there. They limit the number of cards you have with them to 2, unless it's a co-branded card. For example, the SonyCard.

Re: Capitol one. Help.. so annoying..

Walt_K — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:20:14 GMT

@remarc wrote:
I recently got a letter from Capitol one about being pre-approved for a Cash Rewards card.. I called up Capitol One to ask if I could upgrade one of my current Platinum cards and they told me NO, I would need to apply for the cash rewards if I wanted a better APR and higher limit. I thought what I would do is keep the balance of the other two cards at zero which they currently are and I would just use the rewards card instead..

Capitol one denied me which is odd seeing they pre-arrived me and that when I checked my score before applying it was at E.639 EQ.698 Trans.659 and i hold only a balance on one other card over 4 cards which is under 35% ratio.. so my debt ratio is great right now.

I called to ask why and no one could give me a answer , just said i would get a letter in 7 to 10 days..

Why is capitol one so hard to work with.. they have only giving me 1 limit increase in two years.. ive never been late and never missed a payment. I feel like just letting my capitol one card sit in my draw and never use them... the annoying thing is it will hit my credit score for a hard pull..

Not a happy camper

on a side note.. what does it mean when people talk about a manual review of your credit regarding getting a card?

cheers

:m

1. Preapprovals are marketing tools. They don't mean a whole lot. Sorry you had to learn it this way, but you'll know in the future not to put too much stock in them.

2. Where are you getting your credit scores? The reason I ask is that you list all three and there are only a few places you can get your Experian FICO score. I'm wondering if you are listing FICO scores or what we call FAKO scores.

3. 35% utilization isn't really a great ratio. It's not horrible, but it's a little high. Under 10% is great. For optimal scoring, you want to have all cards but one report $0. It sounds like you've done that. For the one card reporting a balance, most people see the best result if that card reports 9% or less of its limit (that is 9% of that card's CL, not total CL across all cards). The balance that is reported for most cards is the statement balance. So you can control what is reported by paying your balance down before your bill is generated.

4. Regarding manual review, I assume you are referring to a reconsideration. You just call the creditor up and ask them to reconsider your application. Sometimes a computer will spit out an automatic denial and you can explain some of the reasons to a person. An example would be a denial for too many inquiries, and letting the person know that all/most of them were for shopping for the best auto rate.

Re: Capitol one. Help.. so annoying..

LS2982 — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:23:10 GMT

Welcome to the forums!

Your not going to know exactly what the denial reasons are until the letter comes but 35% util. probably played a role in it. how does your files look otherwise?

Re: Capitol one. Help.. so annoying..

Repo-ed — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:24:34 GMT

I'm mid-6's right now and can't get a prime to save my life. Barely get a secured. It's nuts.

Re: Capitol one. Help.. so annoying..

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:33:26 GMT

Capital One being hard to work with is an understatement.

Although I don't think it's as much that they're hard to work with, as they're incapable of doing anything for you. As far as I can tell, nobody in the company actually has any control over anything - nobody can manually approve applications, credit limit increases, product changes or any other upgrades unless the computer automatically approves it in the first place. So all they can really do is press a button if the Allmighty Computer gives them the go-ahead.

As soon as your credit score/profile looks good enough to get something else, you should move on from Capital One. Sure, you might be the one in a million exception who gets a decent CLI and product change down the line, but you might also win the lottery next week. I wouldn't hold my breath.

Re: Capitol one. Help.. so annoying..

bichonmom — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:57:08 GMT

@remarc wrote:
I recently got a letter from Capitol one about being pre-approved for a Cash Rewards card.. I called up Capitol One to ask if I could upgrade one of my current Platinum cards and they told me NO, I would need to apply for the cash rewards if I wanted a better APR and higher limit. I thought what I would do is keep the balance of the other two cards at zero which they currently are and I would just use the rewards card instead..

Capitol one denied me which is odd seeing they pre-arrived me and that when I checked my score before applying it was at E.639 EQ.698 Trans.659 and i hold only a balance on one other card over 4 cards which is under 35% ratio.. so my debt ratio is great right now.

I called to ask why and no one could give me a answer , just said i would get a letter in 7 to 10 days..

Why is capitol one so hard to work with.. they have only giving me 1 limit increase in two years.. ive never been late and never missed a payment. I feel like just letting my capitol one card sit in my draw and never use them... the annoying thing is it will hit my credit score for a hard pull..

Not a happy camper

on a side note.. what does it mean when people talk about a manual review of your credit regarding getting a card?

cheers

:m

Getting a pre-approval from a CC is not a guarantee of approval for the card. It just means that you meet their marketing criteria. Capital One has a limit of 2 personal CCs per person, except for their co-branded CCs. So, if you already have 2, you cannot get a 3rd. You probably did not get any HP though. Others have reported that when they apped for a 3rd card, they were denied, but also did NOT get any HP. Unfortunately their reps are not well informed and tend to give more erroneous information than accurate info.

If you want to get a new CC (non-Cap one), the best thing you can do is pay down your util to <9% on ONLY one card, and zero reporting on all the others. If you re-check your scores, you should see an increase. Then app for a CC. You might want to look into local CUs for a CC, since they tend to be more lenient and have better terms than the banks.

Re: Capitol one. Help.. so annoying..

lokobo — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 03:31:54 GMT

I also got denied after getting two seperate "pre approval" letters one month apart for a no annual fee no hassle cash back rewards card. It cost me a HP on all three reports. I was livid.

Re: Capitol one. Help.. So annoying..

remarc — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 03:43:01 GMT

Guys. Thanks for all the responses..

I hold only 1 balance on all my cards and its currently $276 on a $1000. Both my capitol one cards where purely for me to build credit. I do have a Citi Platinum Card with a balance of $1500 which I will be asking to increase my limit once the 6 month marks rolls round.

I really wanted to get out of the capitol one cards with low limits $500 and $850. Seeing they would not increase my limit on either when ive asked and its been 2 years.. Guess I learned my lesion from Capitol one.. I did wonder if it was because i have two cards with them already but wouldn't they of said something when i called up and asked ???

Im looking to get another rewards card. Miles or cash rewards later in the year.. Citi I must say have been awesome from day one. so I hope when the 6 month marks comes round it works out..

My scores are pulled from fith third identity alert. It pulls from all three beuros once a month. I know this is not my excate scores but it gives me a bench mark,

Im relatively new to this country.. Moved here from the UK. Been working hard on my scores to be able to better my self in this country.. I really do appreciate any help and all the advice on this forum.

Re: Capitol one. Help.. So annoying..

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 04:01:31 GMT

@remarc wrote:
My scores are pulled from fith third identity alert. It pulls from all three beuros once a month. I know this is not my excate scores but it gives me a bench mark,

Unfortunately it doesn't really even give you a benchmark. Your real scores could easily be a hundred points off from what random FAKO scores tell you. They don't use the same scoring algorithm or even the same score range most of the time, so any non-FICO scores are more or less useless. Services like that are good for monitoring your actual reports, but the scores they give you just don't translate into FICO scores in any way. If they happen to be close to your FICO scores, it's just coincidence.

Re: Capitol one. Help.. So annoying..

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 09:13:52 GMT

an orange is not an apple - so no matter how much we want to bite right into the orange peel, it is not going to ever be tasty to most of us; you cant make it what is not meant to be. U, like many of us, already know that your Cap 1 cards come with some frustrating limitations. You might feel a bit less frustrated, if you let yoru Cap 1 cards do what they are meant to do: help you (re)establish some credit and good payment history, and then when you are in a better situation, apply for better cards.

I know it is hard to hear; trust, I have gone on all types of app sprees and have called Cap1 many, many times a year over the past 4 years trying to get increases on my accounts. Someone here had typed that if you have 2 Cap1 cards, they will usually show only one love, and that was what I was seeing. Although I had my Visa slightly longer, it was the MC that received a nice increase more than a year ago. I cancelled the Visa, because I only need the one to help me build a better credit file. Since I had begun doing that, I was approved for a Disover and a Barclay card. I am pretty sure that my Cap1 MC has reached its CL ceiling!

I am still very much in the rebuilding phase, and I do get the urge to call Cap1 and ask for a CLI, which I know I will not get, and sometimes I do call. The rejections are easier to accept when I consider that I just need to use the card for what it was meant to do and to take advantage of what IS good about my C1 MC: no foreign transaction fees, no annual fee, rewards, and offers to reduce my APR after they decline my CLI.

Even in frustration, I treat the card well - but it is with optimism that I use my Discover and Barclay card, which I would never have gotten if HSBC ( growl) and Cap 1 (growl) had not given me a chance 4 years ago. Hang in there and work your accounts so they can work for you. Trust me, use your Cap 1 cards to help you get better cards through other banks - not more C1 rebuilder cards that will not grow with you.

Re: Capitol one. Help.. So annoying..

LS2982 — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 09:22:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@remarc wrote:
My scores are pulled from fith third identity alert. It pulls from all three beuros once a month. I know this is not my excate scores but it gives me a bench mark,

Unfortunately it doesn't really even give you a benchmark. Your real scores could easily be a hundred points off from what random FAKO scores tell you. They don't use the same scoring algorithm or even the same score range most of the time, so any non-FICO scores are more or less useless. Services like that are good for monitoring your actual reports, but the scores they give you just don't translate into FICO scores in any way. If they happen to be close to your FICO scores, it's just coincidence.

Re: Capitol one. Help.. So annoying..

Gollum — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:48:58 GMT

@remarc wrote:
Guys. Thanks for all the responses..

I hold only 1 balance on all my cards and its currently $276 on a $1000. Both my capitol one cards where purely for me to build credit. I do have a Citi Platinum Card with a balance of $1500 which I will be asking to increase my limit once the 6 month marks rolls round.

I really wanted to get out of the capitol one cards with low limits $500 and $850. Seeing they would not increase my limit on either when ive asked and its been 2 years.. Guess I learned my lesion from Capitol one.. I did wonder if it was because i have two cards with them already but wouldn't they of said something when i called up and asked ???

Im looking to get another rewards card. Miles or cash rewards later in the year.. Citi I must say have been awesome from day one. so I hope when the 6 month marks comes round it works out..

My scores are pulled from fith third identity alert. It pulls from all three beuros once a month. I know this is not my excate scores but it gives me a bench mark,

Im relatively new to this country.. Moved here from the UK. Been working hard on my scores to be able to better my self in this country.. I really do appreciate any help and all the advice on this forum.

The text I highlighted above in red "does not parse." I'm guessing that is because of misunderstandings regarding definitions related to credit reports/scores. Are you calculating your utilization percentage, or are you relying on some free website to do so?

I would be happy to type out instructions for calculating your utilization percentage, but I am reluctant to do so if you can calculate it on your own.

The following link might be helpful/useful. It's one of the links in a "sticky" titled "Helpful threads," listed at the top of the homepage for this Board (Credit Cards):

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Credit-Scoring-101-START-HERE/m-p/8169

Re: Capitol one. Help.. So annoying..

Walt_K — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:55:20 GMT

@Gollum wrote:
@remarc wrote:
Guys. Thanks for all the responses..

I hold only 1 balance on all my cards and its currently $276 on a $1000. Both my capitol one cards where purely for me to build credit. I do have a Citi Platinum Card with a balance of $1500 which I will be asking to increase my limit once the 6 month marks rolls round.

I really wanted to get out of the capitol one cards with low limits $500 and $850. Seeing they would not increase my limit on either when ive asked and its been 2 years.. Guess I learned my lesion from Capitol one.. I did wonder if it was because i have two cards with them already but wouldn't they of said something when i called up and asked ???

Im looking to get another rewards card. Miles or cash rewards later in the year.. Citi I must say have been awesome from day one. so I hope when the 6 month marks comes round it works out..

My scores are pulled from fith third identity alert. It pulls from all three beuros once a month. I know this is not my excate scores but it gives me a bench mark,

Im relatively new to this country.. Moved here from the UK. Been working hard on my scores to be able to better my self in this country.. I really do appreciate any help and all the advice on this forum.
The text I highlighted above in red "does not parse." I'm guessing that is because of misunderstandings regarding definitions related to credit reports/scores. Are you calculating your utilization percentage, or are you relying on some free website to do so?

I would be happy to type out instructions for calculating your utilization percentage, but I am reluctant to do so if you can calculate it on your own.

The following link might be helpful/useful. It's one of the links in a "sticky" titled "Helpful threads," listed at the top of the homepage for this Board (Credit Cards):
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Credit-Scoring-101-START-HERE/m-p/8169

Pretty sure OP meant the Citi card has a limit of $1500, not a balance of $1500. Just a typo.

Re: Capitol one. Help.. so annoying..

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:29:39 GMT

@remarc wrote:

Why is capitol one so hard to work with.. they have only giving me 1 limit increase in two years.. ive never been late and never missed a payment.

:m

I hate defending Cap 1 here. I really do. This hurts, excrutiatingly, so bear with me.

But let's be honest here, okay? It's only hard to work w Cap 1 on their rebuilding and avg cards. I've found if you close them and open a prime w them, they are quite amazing.

What I find interesting is that when it comes to Orchard and their poor CS and their AFs and puny $300 CLs and none to pathetic CLIs, for ex, people are more than happy and proud to ditch them when it's time. People just don't really expect Orchard to grow with them, I guess. They don't expect to keep these cards for life. They except it's a necessary evil to rebuild. The expectations are much lower.

But w Cap 1 and their AFs and pathetic CLIs and poor CSR, people get upset. Maybe it's because even tho the credit lines are basically static they're higher, or that they do have prime cards, there's this expectation that the cards should grow?

But they don't. They're exactly the same as Orchard, and any other subprime card. There comes a time where you have to stick w it because you're rebuilding, move on to prime because you've accomplished that, or accept the pathetic-ness of having a lame card in your wallet because you don't want to take 3 hits or lose a semi-decent CL or move to a new product. But if you accept the pathetic-ness, that's you, right? Not Cap 1.

Not that it's not cool to vent, and not that it's not frustrating. But just felt like it needed to be pointed out that it is what it is w Cap 1.

Now, I need to go take a long, hot shower. That felt really dirty and yucky. Sorry.

Re: Capitol one. Help.. so annoying..

CreditCrusader — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:33:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@remarc wrote:

Why is capitol one so hard to work with.. they have only giving me 1 limit increase in two years.. ive never been late and never missed a payment.

:m

I hate defending Cap 1 here. I really do. This hurts, excrutiatingly, so bear with me.

But let's be honest here, okay? It's only hard to work w Cap 1 on their rebuilding and avg cards. I've found if you close them and open a prime w them, they are quite amazing.

What I find interesting is that when it comes to Orchard and their poor CS and their AFs and puny $300 CLs and none to pathetic CLIs, for ex, people are more than happy and proud to ditch them when it's time. People just don't really expect Orchard to grow with them, I guess. They don't expect to keep these cards for life. They except it's a necessary evil to rebuild. The expectations are much lower.

But w Cap 1 and their AFs and pathetic CLIs and poor CSR, people get upset. Maybe it's because even tho the credit lines are basically static they're higher, or that they do have prime cards, there's this expectation that the cards should grow?

But they don't. They're exactly the same as Orchard, and any other subprime card. There comes a time where you have to stick w it because you're rebuilding, move on to prime because you've accomplished that, or accept the pathetic-ness of having a lame card in your wallet because you don't want to take 3 hits or lose a semi-decent CL or move to a new product. But if you accept the pathetic-ness, that's you, right? Not Cap 1.

Not that it's not cool to vent, and not that it's not frustrating. But just felt like it needed to be pointed out that it is what it is w Cap 1.

Now, I need to go take a long, hot shower. That felt really dirty and yucky. Sorry.

Re: Capitol one. Help.. So annoying..

Gollum — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:37:18 GMT

@Walt_K wrote:
@Gollum wrote:
@remarc wrote:
Guys. Thanks for all the responses..

I hold only 1 balance on all my cards and its currently $276 on a $1000. Both my capitol one cards where purely for me to build credit. I do have a Citi Platinum Card with a balance of $1500 which I will be asking to increase my limit once the 6 month marks rolls round.

I really wanted to get out of the capitol one cards with low limits $500 and $850. Seeing they would not increase my limit on either when ive asked and its been 2 years.. Guess I learned my lesion from Capitol one.. I did wonder if it was because i have two cards with them already but wouldn't they of said something when i called up and asked ???

Im looking to get another rewards card. Miles or cash rewards later in the year.. Citi I must say have been awesome from day one. so I hope when the 6 month marks comes round it works out..

My scores are pulled from fith third identity alert. It pulls from all three beuros once a month. I know this is not my excate scores but it gives me a bench mark,

Im relatively new to this country.. Moved here from the UK. Been working hard on my scores to be able to better my self in this country.. I really do appreciate any help and all the advice on this forum.
The text I highlighted above in red "does not parse." I'm guessing that is because of misunderstandings regarding definitions related to credit reports/scores. Are you calculating your utilization percentage, or are you relying on some free website to do so?

I would be happy to type out instructions for calculating your utilization percentage, but I am reluctant to do so if you can calculate it on your own.

The following link might be helpful/useful. It's one of the links in a "sticky" titled "Helpful threads," listed at the top of the homepage for this Board (Credit Cards):
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Credit-Scoring-101-START-HERE/m-p/8169

Pretty sure OP meant the Citi card has a limit of $1500, not a balance of $1500. Just a typo.

Limit/balance misunderstandings are not typographical errors.

"Rhe quick brown fox" is a typographical error.

Re: Capitol one. Help.. So annoying..

Walt_K — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:58:03 GMT

@Gollum wrote:
@Walt_K wrote:
@Gollum wrote:
@remarc wrote:
Guys. Thanks for all the responses..

I hold only 1 balance on all my cards and its currently $276 on a $1000. Both my capitol one cards where purely for me to build credit. I do have a Citi Platinum Card with a balance of $1500 which I will be asking to increase my limit once the 6 month marks rolls round.

I really wanted to get out of the capitol one cards with low limits $500 and $850. Seeing they would not increase my limit on either when ive asked and its been 2 years.. Guess I learned my lesion from Capitol one.. I did wonder if it was because i have two cards with them already but wouldn't they of said something when i called up and asked ???

Im looking to get another rewards card. Miles or cash rewards later in the year.. Citi I must say have been awesome from day one. so I hope when the 6 month marks comes round it works out..

My scores are pulled from fith third identity alert. It pulls from all three beuros once a month. I know this is not my excate scores but it gives me a bench mark,

Im relatively new to this country.. Moved here from the UK. Been working hard on my scores to be able to better my self in this country.. I really do appreciate any help and all the advice on this forum.
The text I highlighted above in red "does not parse." I'm guessing that is because of misunderstandings regarding definitions related to credit reports/scores. Are you calculating your utilization percentage, or are you relying on some free website to do so?

I would be happy to type out instructions for calculating your utilization percentage, but I am reluctant to do so if you can calculate it on your own.

The following link might be helpful/useful. It's one of the links in a "sticky" titled "Helpful threads," listed at the top of the homepage for this Board (Credit Cards):
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Credit-Scoring-101-START-HERE/m-p/8169

Pretty sure OP meant the Citi card has a limit of $1500, not a balance of $1500. Just a typo.
Limit/balance misunderstandings are not typographical errors.
"Rhe quick brown fox" is a typographical error.

Lord, everyone's a critic. Fine, not a typo, more technically a substitution error. Pedantic explanations aside, OP uses limit and balance correctly elsewhere in the post, so it seems pretty clear that OP meant to say the limit on the Citi Card is $1500.