Finally Upgraded QuickSilver One

[fleetfoot]

After 15 years of being bucketted with my QuickSilver One card, a product change appeared on my CapOne dashboard. 

While rebuilding credit, I applied for a secured CapOne Platinum card on December 10, 2010 which was upgraded to a QuickSilver One card about five years later.  Many years and hundreds of calls to CapOne CS resulted in "no available product changes" for my card.  With suggestions from this forum, I was able to get the AF waived on four separate years.  A letter to EO at CapOne in 2022 resulted in a personal phone call from them with the same "no available product changes" response.  I continued to call and visit the CapOne website regularly over the intervening years.

Magically (?!?) on December 10, 2025, exactly 15 years (to-the-day) from my first secured card with Capital One, a "Product Change Opportunity" appeared on my Capital One dashboard.  I was shocked.  I immediately clicked and my bucketted QuickSilver One card was upgraded to a no-fee QuickSilver card.  The next day the account showed a prorated credit for the one remaining month of AF.  In eight days, the new card was in my hand.  

I am thinking that the 15-year mark was not insignificant.   In 2006 I burned Amex, Chase, and Capital One after a financial disaster related to significant injury in a motor vehicle accident.  I never declared bankruptcy.  I just didn't pay the credit cards.  Capital One allowed me to open a secured card in 2010 without paying them back what I owed them.   Amex made me wait exactly ten years, even though I had paid them in full.  Chase let me back in at 12 years after I stiffed them for over $17K.   I am thankful that my income and finances have fully recovered.  And I am thrilled that I was able to upgrade the old QuickSilver One that had originally started out as a secured card.

Yippee!

[BrutalBodyShots]

Congrats on your eventual upgrade finally happening. I too think that 15 year data point post-burn may have done the trick.

As an aside, is this a card you still use and find value in? If not, you wouldn't hurt anything by closing it.

[fleetfoot]

I use the QuickSilver when I don't have another card that gives cash back in a particular category.  I do the rotating categories on several cards plus AAA card for gas, and Citi Custom Cash for one category each month.  I use AMEX Gold for groceries until I hit the $25K maximum for the year.  I also have Chase Prime Visa for Amazon and two personal Marriott cards (Amex & Chase) and one business Marriott card (Amex) for travel.  

[Vinjints]

I'm sorry, did you say you hit 25k spend for an annual grocery budget? That's a ton of food. What kind of army are you feeding?

[fleetfoot]

We typically max out our Amex 4X reward points in early December each year.  Amex gives 4X points per dollar up to $25K per year.  I just looked up the average US annual grocery bill for a family of four.   The USDA estimates it to be $16800 to $21000.  We're spending at the upper limit.  We also get our prescription and non prescription medications at the grocery store which it codes as groceries for Amex.  Similarly, our household cleaners, lightbulbs, motor oil, pet food, etc. also get coded as groceries for Amex 4X reward.  It adds up quickly.  I think you'd be shocked if you honestly looked at your annual totals.  Our supermarket also provides a year-end summary for amount spent and amount "saved" using their in-house e-coupon card.  The amount spent each year is astonishing.  No, I'm not feeding an army - just a family of four and one dog. 

[RobertS2]

Better late than never! Are you going to push your luck and ask for more of a credit?

[AndrewF]

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@fleetfoot wrote:

After 15 years of being bucketted with my QuickSilver One card, a product change appeared on my CapOne dashboard. 

While rebuilding credit, I applied for a secured CapOne Platinum card on December 10, 2010 which was upgraded to a QuickSilver One card about five years later.  Many years and hundreds of calls to CapOne CS resulted in "no available product changes" for my card.  With suggestions from this forum, I was able to get the AF waived on four separate years.  A letter to EO at CapOne in 2022 resulted in a personal phone call from them with the same "no available product changes" response.  I continued to call and visit the CapOne website regularly over the intervening years.

Magically (?!?) on December 10, 2025, exactly 15 years (to-the-day) from my first secured card with Capital One, a "Product Change Opportunity" appeared on my Capital One dashboard.  I was shocked.  I immediately clicked and my bucketted QuickSilver One card was upgraded to a no-fee QuickSilver card.  The next day the account showed a prorated credit for the one remaining month of AF.  In eight days, the new card was in my hand.  

I am thinking that the 15-year mark was not insignificant.   In 2006 I burned Amex, Chase, and Capital One after a financial disaster related to significant injury in a motor vehicle accident.  I never declared bankruptcy.  I just didn't pay the credit cards.  Capital One allowed me to open a secured card in 2010 without paying them back what I owed them.   Amex made me wait exactly ten years, even though I had paid them in full.  Chase let me back in at 12 years after I stiffed them for over $17K.   I am thankful that my income and finances have fully recovered.  And I am thrilled that I was able to upgrade the old QuickSilver One that had originally started out as a secured card.

Yippee!

---

I am curious about how you didn't file bankruptcy but walked away with some large unpaid balances.

Did nobody ever threaten to sue you? Most banks eventually get around to it for these amounts, especially 20 years ago when that was more than twice as much money, adjusted for inflation.

Maybe the 2008 Recession just gave them too many to deal with you personally or something.