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

[RSX]

worth a try if that is your goal

my orig card the QS1 has raised to 16,750 in 9 years  - for the first 3 years this got tons of spend

my platinum topped out at 6950 after 8 years  - since it didnt have any rewards and had an AF, i closed it last year

so you can get some ok numbers from them - and if they are your oldest, i get your reason for trying

maybe focus on just one of them - put everything through it for about 4-6 months - north of a $1000 per month if possible

then you have a good chance in my opinion

but the Plat just may get stuck there

[Anonymous]

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@RSX wrote:

worth a try if that is your goal

my orig card the QS1 has raised to 16,750 in 9 years  - for the first 3 years this got tons of spend

my platinum topped out at 6950 after 8 years  - since it didnt have any rewards and had an AF, i closed it last year

so you can get some ok numbers from them - and if they are your oldest, i get your reason for trying

maybe focus on just one of them - put everything through it for about 4-6 months - north of a $1000 per month if possible

then you have a good chance in my opinion

but the Plat just may get stuck there

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This is great to know.

[Curious_George2]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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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. 

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Over in another thread, some veteran contributors say that CapOne prefers to see the balance report.  Or at least that was the case at some time in the past, when this issue was examined more thoroughly.

[Heatt99]

There are other lenders, global, national, and regional that would love your spending power. Do not get sucked into CO's "quid pro quo" of you give me more money for a higher credit limit.

Those cards are steps towards better lenders and financial opportunities. Use them if you still want to, but know Chase, Amex, Citi, and other banks and Credit Unions are ready to take your money.

[RSX]

^^ true enough - but he wants to hold onto his oldest account(s)

i think he has the chance to raise up one - and maybe close the other eventually

and if the quicksilver gives 1.5% back, then he isnt losing anything - other than a 0.5% with another card

but yes - he does have a lot of other options for good cards

[Shooting-For-800]

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@Anonymous wrote:

@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.

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If you are using 38% of your available limit month after month, chances are you are being denied for a CLI for another reason.  I can tell you that Cap One loves and/or demands usuage for CLIs.  I have received Cap One CLIs as low as $500 and as high as $9,000 by using the card for EVERYTHING.  I also made WEEKLY payments.  I will probably never get another one since my CLs are so high with Cap One now and I use other cards more.

I would get over the 50% mark each month if that is your only true reason for CLI denial.

GL!

[Anonymous]

Great responses in the thread, thanks folks!

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@Shooting-For-800 wrote:

If you are using 38% of your available limit month after month, chances are you are being denied for a CLI for another reason.  I can tell you that Cap One loves and/or demands usuage for CLIs.  I have received Cap One CLIs as low as $500 and as high as $9,000 by using the card for EVERYTHING.  I also made WEEKLY payments.  I will probably never get another one since my CLs are so high with Cap One now and I use other cards more.

I would get over the 50% mark each month if that is your only true reason for CLI denial.

GL!

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 Indeed. Unless there's a reason that they aren't disclosing, the denial letters only have that one single bullet point for the reason (in a field of empty bullet points where other reasons would go). Thank for your replies though, they probably would very much like to see more activity on these cards. I'll shoot for that $1,000+ mark and see what happens with the QuickSilver. The Platinum I'll probably just let it stay where it's at.

Thanks for all of the replies to everyone else too that mention other lenders being ready for my business. I'll be shopping for more credit at some point and I'm sure I'll search the threads here for good recommendations as to my next cards. I just wanted to see what I could get to happen with my oldest accounts, before I drive AAoA down with new accounts. 

[SweetCreditObsession]

@Anonymous bucketed means that your cards are tied to your previous credit profile (from when you first applied and had  less positive scores). Their credit limit is capped. Research the term on the boards for more details. If you apply for a new C1 card you'll likely get a SL that's larger.

[Anonymous]

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@SweetCreditObsession wrote:

@Anonymous bucketed means that your cards are tied to your previous credit profile (from when you first applied and had  less positive scores). Their credit limit is capped. Research the term on the boards for more details. If you apply for a new C1 card you'll likely get a SL that's larger.

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Ah, gotcha. Sort of like the old "you only get one chance to make a first impression..." adage. So even if you improve your profile, that card has a CL based at least in part, by the old profile. This has been really awesome community, I'm glad I decided to post. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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

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I've only got only one Cap 1 card (fortunately), that I got almost exactly 3 years ago. It started as a Quicksilver with a $1000 CL. I got a generous $100 CLI about 90d later, then at the 1 yr mark got a $2000 CLI. I've sat at $3100 since! I PC'd to Savor about 4 weeks before Savor was buffed and given a $95 AF, so I "grandfathered" in mine as a 4% Dining/Entertainment with no AF. Were it not for that, I'd have closed it! It's not my lowest limit, but certainly the lowest with little/no hope of an increase. Just like you, it's either "usage has been too high" or "not enough usage of available limit!" I normally PIF each month, but tried paying statement balance only for 3 months but that didn't work either. Oh well! At least as a 1-trick pony, $3100 is certainly adequate. Gotta love Cap 1 triple-pulls and bucketed cards! 

PS--I've thought about getting another Savor and then combining CL's  and closing the younger after a year. However, I've heard Cap 1 isn't allowing limits to be combined upon closure anymore. If I'm wrong, or if they change, I still may try that someday.