@Anonymouswrote:Approximately three months ago BF, who was new to credit as of 9 or 10 months ago was approved for the platinum preferred with a $500 SL(he had already gotten regular cap1($500), discover($6000!), and paypal 2%($3000!) and we got a little over zealous and now he's in the garden with me).
After the first month's payment we attemped a cli(because why not) and got a denial of "your capital one account is too new" which per their little explantion chart means - request a credit line increase after you account has been open for at least three months.
ok fast forward three months. we made a payment, 2 days later request an cli get a denial. - recent use of this account's credit line has been too low. - no explanation in their little chart. i've never even see that before.
i mean.. the credit line is only $500! LOL.. i do have his experian monthly $19.99 on it and thats really the only thing he uses it for. his Paypal card is his daily driver card and he loves that thing. i dont know what else to do with it. i guess we're just gonna wait till 6 months and just combine it with his other cap1 card.
just wanted to post as a datapoint incase someone else was searching for info!
That denial reason is somewhat justified if all he is using it for a $20 a month charge. You have to abuse these low-limit Capital One cards to get growth out of them. Charge them up to the limit and pay them down immediately, rinse and repeat several times a month. This is a surefire way to show them that the limit they gave you doesn't match your spending patterns, and can result in a 3-5x CLI, like my mom. Her credit steps went from $500 to $3,500, when it was only supposed to go to $750.
I've been able to take my $300 Capital One card up to $8,350 with consistent usage of the limit. These days I can't cycle $8K of charges through the card, so I've been using it for low fee balance transfers, then paying those off over several months. Capital One seems to like what I'm doing, because they keep giving me a CLI every 6 months.
If you want this card to grow, sounds like your bf will need to change out his daily driver for a little while.
@DeeBee78I've been able to take my $300 Capital One card up to $8,350 with consistent usage of the limit. These days I can't cycle $8K of charges through the card, so I've been using it for low fee balance transfers, then paying those off over several months. Capital One seems to like what I'm doing, because they keep giving me a CLI every 6 months.
If you want this card to grow, sounds like your bf will need to change out his daily driver for a little while.
This is excellent advice. I did the same with my Quicksilver One toy limit card (also 500) and it grew just like yours did: 500 --> 4,500 --> 6,000.
I find the best way to get love is to show love. So, when I'm gearing up for a CLI on a card that likes heavy usage, as Capital One does, I make it my daily driver for several months leading up to the request in order to improve my chances of getting one.
Just don't forget to pay in full before the closing date as you don't want more than 9% usage reporting to your credit (assuming you care about gaming the system, that is).
