Denied for Cap One CLI. Usage too high, then Usage too low. Swung too hard the other way?

[Anonymous]

So my Cap One cards are two of my lowest limit cards, and I want to address that:

Capital One Platinum: $0.00 Balance  $2,500 Limit Opened 2012. 30 days late once: 9/2013.

Capital One QuickSilver: $0.00 Balance $2,250 Limit Opened 2014. Never late.

CLI history for these cards:

Opened Platinum at $300.00 on 1/29/2012.

Opened Quicksilver at $500.00 on 7/15/2014. 

CLI on QuickSilver to $1,250 on 11/2016 (unrequested, they just automatically did it)

CLI on Platinum to $1,500 on 11/2016 (requested after the auto--CLI on the other card. Why not try the other)

CLI on QuickSilver to $2,250 on 1/2017 (requested after the previous approval for the other card)

CLI on Platinum to $2,500 on 11/2018 (requested)

CLI on QuickSilver Denied on 11/2018

(reason: recent usage too *high*, average payment too low, credit score too low (EQ 606 at the time))

Usage summary:

From the on-boarding of each of these cards, I would use these cards for big emergency purchases (unexpected car trouble, tickets to fly home when a family member was at the hospital, etc) and would pay them off slowly (over the course of a few months) by making a little more than minimum payments unless I couldn't and then I'd pay the minimum always (except for the once in 2013 on the platinum). This usage is what got me my previous CLIs on these cards but is what I would consider not the healthiest behavior. Starting early 2019 (after the denied CLI on the quicksilver at the end of the year 2018) I was able to get a proper emergency fund set up and I decided to only put a small bill or two on each of the cards, and not really do any big purchases on them. Simply paying them in full after that small bill. I think I swung too hard in the other direction as this started happening:

CLI on Platinum Denied on 8/2019 (reason: recent usage too low)

CLI on Platinum Denied on 1/24/2020 (reason: recent usage too low)

CLI on QuickSilver Denied on 1/24/2020 (reason: recent usage too low)

CLI on Platinum Denied on 4/28/2020 (reason: recent usage too low)
CLI on QuickSilver Denied on 4/28/2020 (reason: recent usage too low)

Between each of these denials, I started putting a little bit more and more on each card, but still paying in full before the statement date. By comparison, my other limits are:

Amex BlueCash: $3,000 (my next lowest one which I was *just* able to finally get a CLI from 1k to 3k)

Chase Amazon Prime: $4,500 (recently upped from $1,000 to $2,000 then $4,500)

Citi Aadvantage Platinum Select: $7,200

Goldman Sachs AppleCard: $8,500

I usually just use the cards incidentally (small bill on them auto-pay to pay off the balance) but since I recently started wanting to push my limits higher, I've started actually using the darn things and also getting rewards out of them. My current rotation is my AMEX BlueCash because that gives me decent rewards on Gas and Groceries allowing me to finally get the first CLI on it. I also rotated in my Amazon Prime Chase card as that had an abysmally low 1k limit on it and Chase automatically gave me a CLI up to 2k 4/2019. I then requested another one end of 2019 and got it up to $4,500. Before that my Citi Aadvantage card started at $4,500, got bumped to $6,700 8/2019 and again to $7,200 02/2020. I've been using this card extensively for corporate travel expenses which I get reimbursed for. So tons of activity that I ultimately don't have to pay for, wracking up 107k miles since 2018. 

Now it's time for the Capital One cards. Went for CLI's on both back in January and was denied for both with the reason that:

"Recent use of this account's existing credit line has been too low"

Fair enough. Like I said, I rotated in other cards to build them up, only fair that I actually demonstrate using these now instead, fine. 

So since January these have been my primary cards for a lot of my spending, always charging up the balance and paying in full before the statement date, sometimes multiple payments during the month (I like seeing that 0 balance so as things post and can be paid, I will do it).

Usage since the late January denial for both has been:

Platinum:

January: $37.31 (pre-ramp up)

February: $206.39

March: $919.52

April: $466.73

QuickSilver

January: $169.36

February: $278.04

March: $865.10

April: $423.64

I know it's not much but I still see it as a sizeable percentage of these card's limits. I reapplied for CLIs today and was denied again for the same reason for both cards. Now their site lists that one can "reapply for an increase at any time" and calls out for this reason code to use the card more but I think there's either an internal timer (some have been saying 6 months) or my definition of usage differs from theirs.

A few questions:

Is there a 6 month 'retry timer' that I have to wait out, even if the stated reason for denial has been addressed?

What do they consider healthy usage to make this go away? Are they wanting a balance carried through statement close (ouch) or are they just wanting more throughput?

Should I just keep up with what I'm doing, using these cards as my primary use cards and paying in full before the statement date until at least 6 months has elapsed from my last denial (today)? Or is there something I'm missing as far as 'usage' is concerned?

Current scores:

Fico 8: EQ:720 TU:719 EX: 721

Fico 9: EQ:752 TU:745 EX: 746

[Anonymous]

I'd think if you applied for a new Capital One like the Savor/Ventures, you may see much higher CL than what they are currently giving you.

Bucketed cards don't grow too big.

[Anonymous]

I was wondering that. Like these cards tend to be smaller cards (what's bucketed mean in this context?) and maybe I'm close to their cap or something?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

... Current scores: Fico 8: EQ:720 TU:719 EX: 721 Fico 9: EQ:752 TU:745 EX: 746

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With those scores you can get cards that will grow. I have almost 10 years experience with Cap1, a $550 CL & a $2250 CL. Most of my other cards range between $10000 to $33000 and I've been with most of them for 2 years or less. 

I suggest you look for a different lender. 

[Shooting-For-800]

Utilization and usage are two different things.

From the banks view, why raise limit if less than 20% is being used?

[Anonymous]

On those starter cards you have to claw and scratch your way up for ANY cli there is the odd duck here and there, but look you got a 90 day cli in there lol that's unheard of with cap 1

[Curious_George2]

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@Anonymous wrote:

A few questions:

Is there a 6 month 'retry timer' that I have to wait out, even if the stated reason for denial has been addressed?

What do they consider healthy usage to make this go away? Are they wanting a balance carried through statement close (ouch) or are they just wanting more throughput?

---

I'm doing a very similar thing with CapOne so I'm glad you asked these questions and I'm eager to see other people's answers. 

I don't think there is a need to wait any particular time after a CLI denial before making another request. I started asking in January and got a denial letter with four reasons stated. I started addressing those issues and have been re-requesting monthly. Within a month or two of me resuming use of the card, I stopped getting the denial reason "Recent usage of this account for monthly spend has been too low." 

The only denial reason I'm still getting is the same as yours: "Recent use of this account's existing credit line has been too low."  I'm taking that at face value and pushing the balance up as high as I can without incurring interest charges. I don't mind letting a balance report. I don't have the exact numbers available, but so far I think I have peaked at around 30% of CL and that hasn't changed their mind.

There was one interesting post here recently that suggested CapOne had only done quarterly updates of one person's credit scores in the database used for evaluating CLI requests. I can't refute that based on my own experience this year, but it would surprise me if they were generally that slow to incorporate new information.  For all their quirks, CapOne seems like a pretty high-tech company.  It would be strange if they deliberately ignored the most recent 1-3 months of data that they already have at hand. 

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

... Current scores: Fico 8: EQ:720 TU:719 EX: 721 Fico 9: EQ:752 TU:745 EX: 746

---

With those scores you can get cards that will grow. I have almost 10 years experience with Cap1, a $550 CL & a $2250 CL. Most of my other cards range between $10000 to $33000 and I've been with most of them for 2 years or less. 

I suggest you look for a different lender. 

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That's what I was thinking. I know these cards aren't the end-all, be-all but I figure why not try and maximize the limits on my two oldest account. Thanks for the input.

[Anonymous]

@Shooting-For-800 wrote:

Utilization and usage are two different things.

From the banks view, why raise limit if less than 20% is being used?

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Right. Which is what I'm getting at in asking this question. The usage table I posted has my March usage up to 36 and 38% for each of the cards for example (purchases for that statement month totaling 919.52 for one and 865.10 for the other). So I've ramped up usage but was curious as to what 'magic number' of usage they want to see or if it's a time thing and the three short months since I've ramped up usage isn't enough time. If it's the former and they just want to see more usage, then I can take the usage from both of these and instead put it all on one card without changing any spending habits at all. Then I can try for a CLI and switch to the other and do the same. If the latter, then I can continue as I have and just do it for longer.

Also, there doesn't seem to be a way to easily reply to and quote multiple messages in one single post. Unless I'm missing something. The FAQ section talks about clicking reply and quoting a single message.

[Anonymous]

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@Curious_George2 wrote:
I'm doing a very similar thing with CapOne so I'm glad you asked these questions and I'm eager to see other people's answers. 

I don't think there is a need to wait any particular time after a CLI denial before making another request. I started asking in January and got a denial letter with four reasons stated. I started addressing those issues and have been re-requesting monthly. Within a month or two of me resuming use of the card, I stopped getting the denial reason "Recent usage of this account for monthly spend has been too low." 

The only denial reason I'm still getting is the same as yours: "Recent use of this account's existing credit line has been too low."  I'm taking that at face value and pushing the balance up as high as I can without incurring interest charges. I don't mind letting a balance report. I don't have the exact numbers available, but so far I think I have peaked at around 30% of CL and that hasn't changed their mind.

There was one interesting post here recently that suggested CapOne had only done quarterly updates of one person's credit scores in the database used for evaluating CLI requests. I can't refute that based on my own experience this year, but it would surprise me if they were generally that slow to incorporate new information.  For all their quirks, CapOne seems like a pretty high-tech company.  It would be strange if they deliberately ignored the most recent 1-3 months of data that they already have at hand. 

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Thanks! Yeah, we shall see what responses I get. Always interesting to see how people's experiences differ (or not) from one's own. Interesting to see if you letting them report balances changes anything versus what I'm getting of using it more but still paying it off. 

As far as scores they use, I dunno. It does seem weird to have it be *that* delayed, but I wouldn't be able to tell you because this denial letter type for lack of usage doesn't have the score disclosure on it that they used to make the decision. So I don't know precisely what score value they had at the time. I would guess that if it was an old outdated super low score that would be one of the bullet points, but it's not. 

As a side note, I find it kinda of funny how this denial letter still uses the default template with 3 or 4 bullets just that the other bullets are blank  instead of being deleted.