Capital 1 CLI question - reactivating dormant CLI cycle?

[DeeBee78]

I haven't used my QS in quite some time, but I did take advantage of a 0% BT offer from Capital One last month, and moved $4,000 to the card. I'm paying it off in $500 a month chunks, and was curious to see if/when they would give me a CLI.

My last CLI on the card was in January, for a measley $250. I wasn't really using the card, and I didn't think a better offer would come along, so I took it. I tried a CLI request couple of days ago and today got the email with the denial. The reason was "Your average monthly payment has been too low." OK, fair enough. The card has been unused since February, so I can understand not being eligible for a CLI.

My question is this: How long will it take to get out of this "not eligible" cycle?  I would think something like three months of payments might open up their purse strings a bit, but wanted to hear from anyone else that has been in a similar situation with them. I seem to remember someone on here stating BT's don't count as usage, so I'm curious to hear if anyone else has gotten a CLI with just a BT? 

[Anonymous]

I would say 3 months is fair assessment.  What is your limit on the card?  If the $4000 balance is a significant percentage of the limit (say a $5k-$10k limit) I would think once you pay it down to 20% or so of your limit it would be an ideal time to request a CLI. 

[DeeBee78]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I would say 3 months is fair assessment.  What is your limit on the card?  If the $4000 balance is a significant percentage of the limit (say a $5k-$10k limit) I would think once you pay it down to 20% or so of your limit it would be an ideal time to request a CLI. 

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$7,600. I've managed to grow it from $300 over the years with a couple of EO CLI's and an account combination. I already made the first BT payment, so the balance is down to $3,700 right now. I wouldn't mind getting to $10K with this card someday.

[HeavenOhio]

I think it's just a matter of timing. After a couple of months and putting a bigger dent in your balance transfer, you might find yourself in a much better position. The good news is that you can make requests periodially without resetting any clock. And if you decline a CLI that you deem too small, there isn't a clock reset for that either.

Just to give you an idea of what has worked for me, my Cap One card was at a $7,000 limit for three years. In February and August of this year, I requested CLIs and received $3,000 each time. I was using the card fairly heavily (maybe $2,500 to $4,000 per month) during the three months or so preceding the requests. And I was either paying to zero or cutting a statement balance and paying in full.

[UncleB]

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@DeeBee78 wrote:

I seem to remember someone on here stating BT's don't count as usage, so I'm curious to hear if anyone else has gotten a CLI with just a BT? 

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I have stated before that in my own personal experience BTs don't seem to count as usage.  I've been denied CLIs before right after using nearly my entire credit line for a month or so for a BT then PIF, and the reason was lack of usage.  I then put very modest swipes on the card for a couple of months and got the CLI.

This hasn't always been the case; 'back in the day' I was able to take advantage of 0% no-fee cash access checks for several months in a row and it seemed to count as usage (I even got several generous auto-CLIs out of it) but that no longer works.  Note that I would no longer recommend that now for other reasons (large cash advances/BTs and quickly paying off the account, rinse and repeat, seems to be one of the few things that will get AA from Capital One these days).

Disclaimer:  That was my own experience, and others might have counter-data points.  Also, as we all know things can change in an instant, so since Capital One CLI requests are SP anyway it certainly doens't hurt to try.