Pros and Cons of Amex Chase and Capital One

[Anonymous]

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@JamesB95 wrote:

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@takeshi74 wrote:

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@JamesB95 wrote:

Please list PROS and CONS based on your personal experiences and/or facts you know about the cards as follows:

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What you're asking for is not relevant.  Pros can cons will vary from person to person.  Instead of assuming that cards (or creditors) have intrinsic value you need to look at your needs/wants and use that information to determine which cards specifically suit you.  You can't poll others as they can and do have different needs/wants.

For rewards cards many look to maximize their rewards.  If that applies to you then review your major spend categories and the amount of spend if each.  See what you have covered by rewards and where you have deficiencies.

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I do not have much experience with these cards/companies. Therefore, I opened a thread asking others to state their personal pros and cons. Reading/getting advice from others who have been with these cards/companies is relevant to me, personally. I am looking at what I need/want. But, again, I wanted to also have a thread on top of it to compare different views on matters I could have missed, or could of missed in the future. The intent to poll others was to base their information on others information, on top of my information, comparing.

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Yes.  It wasn't as if OP said "I will take a poll and do what the majority says".   This is a way to gain subjective (and maybe some objective) information if you haven't had experience with the cards.

And yes, a lot of it is not all that valuable, but some of the factual stuff might be new to the OP.    

[Anonymous]

I've had as good of experience with Cap 1 as I've had with Amex and Chase. Yes, the Amex CL will grow faster than Cap 1 but Cap 1 will likely grow faster than Chase.

Customer service has been fine with Cap 1 as well. I haven't had any big issues but I've utilized the chat feature just as effectively with Cap 1 as with Amex.

My point is don't let people talk you out of Cap 1 products. The Quicksilver is a very good product.

[1GaDawg85]

Cap1 while aggravating can work for 99% of people. The QuickSilver card is fine and while it takes time to grow, you will have opportunity in time

[Anonymous]

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@JamesB95 wrote:

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@takeshi74 wrote:

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@JamesB95 wrote:

Please list PROS and CONS based on your personal experiences and/or facts you know about the cards as follows:

---

What you're asking for is not relevant.  Pros can cons will vary from person to person.  Instead of assuming that cards (or creditors) have intrinsic value you need to look at your needs/wants and use that information to determine which cards specifically suit you.  You can't poll others as they can and do have different needs/wants.

For rewards cards many look to maximize their rewards.  If that applies to you then review your major spend categories and the amount of spend if each.  See what you have covered by rewards and where you have deficiencies.

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I do not have much experience with these cards/companies. Therefore, I opened a thread asking others to state their personal pros and cons. Reading/getting advice from others who have been with these cards/companies is relevant to me, personally. I am looking at what I need/want. But, again, I wanted to also have a thread on top of it to compare different views on matters I could have missed, or could of missed in the future. The intent to poll others was to base their information on others information, on top of my information, comparing.

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Absolutely. There was nothing at all wrong with your question or this thread. You asked the question in a way that suggested you were already aware that every person has different needs, wants, and spending habits ("based on your personal expeirences"). It's clear to me you were asking for our own individual experiences to see if we had any inside information about these cards that you were't able to get from the card's website. I think it was a great question.

[joltdude]

I have my BCE story.. Helped a family member apply for it, because "he wanted a simple rewards card, and had only a CU card with an AAoA of over 5 years.. Instant approval for 3k..Dissapointed because his CU card was supposedly raised to 6k but wasnt reporting the CL change for some reason (but we didnt know that at the time of app).. Yes it was a cold app.. Had preapprovals for ED but rather have a BCE... So waited the 61 days and.. Poof.. 9K... his highest card yet.. Had preapprovals for BOA CR but already had the BCE ... wanted a second card with low spend requirements for the bonus.. really wanted a 2% card but was having issues dealing with Fidelity already and not a fan of Citi.. Ended up with BBR... Reconned it to 3K ..Wanted 5K... instaproval was 2k. So now.. I have him gardening untill March.. Still not a CIti fan but still wants DC or FIA card for the 2%.. No car loan or morgage.. Am pushing for a secured share loan for him as well..    My point.. is BCE/Amex will grow with you and I do like their customer support and website.... BOA has some potential, Chase does if you want another 5% category card, but Cap One... THe triple pull and the rewards... Meh.. but there is no FTF on the card if i recall.. but QS1 has an AF....

[kdm31091]

The QS1 has an AF, but if he was approved for BCE, he shouldn't have an issue getting the normal QS with no AF. Honestly, I think the triple pull is overhyped as an issue. It is one pull on each bureau. It is annoying, but it's not a huge deal unless you planning tons of apps. Remember, inquiries diminish in importance relatively quickly.

If you're not a fan of Citi, don't choose the DC just because it's not Capital One. DC has some disadvantages vs Quicksilver -- no signup bonus (important to many on here), has a FTF, has a redemption min. of 25 (annoying when you accumulate odd amounts of rewards), the rewards post at statement cut and it is 1% and then 1% as you pay. While you should PIF and get the full 2% always, it is annoying IMO because it is kind of delayed. It is not a slam dunk card, IMO, it's nice but the advantages of Quicksilver outweigh 0.5% to me.

[wacdenney]

The fact that whether or not Crapital One sucks has been such a prominent topic throughout your thread should tell you something in and of itself.  I would take the fact that no one feels the need to argue over whether or not Chase and AMEX suck as a big giant clue.  You have read the references to the "Cap1 Sucks" topic coming up repeatedly.  It doesn't come up over and over by accident just because it's something fun to talk about.  hint hint

That being said...  What Cap 1 is excellent at is sub-prime.  They serve that market better than anyone else and provide a very valuable service to the people by doing so.  Like so many others, I was able to get approved with Cap 1 when I couldn't get anything else.  I used the card and paid the bill on time and my scores rose because of it.  I would not be where I am today if not for Cap1.  Many others can tell the same story.

[kdm31091]

I'm moreso saying I don't personally see how they suck more than anyone else, but YMMV.

To be fair we've all had snags with other lenders, too. What about the Chase closures for no apparent reason? Or the lack of easy CLI with Chase? Or people not getting AMEX prime bonuses? There are issues with any lender. None of them are perfect. Anyone will say that one of them "sucks". It's subjective.

[Anonymous]

Every lender has their own game they play. If you are into self service and begging for simple requests then CapOne is perfect.

[kdm31091]

To be fair, with most issuers, you have to call the EO to get many things done. Barclay, Chase, Citi, BOA, have all been mentioned as requiring the EO to do anything outside of the "norm". My experience with Cap One's EO fell outside of the norm as I wanted a CLI before the 6 month mark. 6 months is their official policy, so it makes sense to have to call the EO to override it. If you want anything outside of normal policies or special consideration, yes, you should have to call the EO.

With that said - Cap One DOES need to empower their CSRs because they are basically embarassing at this point. You need to be able to accomplish some things with them, and you can't. At all. They do have some work to do. However, for the average credit card user, they are not calling the EO for this and that left and right. Heck I didn't even know about calling any kind of EO without these forums. Most people use their card and accept what terms they are given.

I'm just saying I think every issuer has problems. Chase requires HP for CLI's. Citi EO is required for almost every request just like Cap One. BOA is HP every time for CLI. At least Capital One does SP CLI's. I am not saying they are perfect, nor should anyone use them exclusively, but I do not think they are worse than anybody else because every issuer has problems. I find the whole "prime lender" vs "subprime lender" kind of silly. Credit is credit, rewards are rewards. Other than APR and limit, it's really a status thing to say "oooh I have a Chase card" vs "capital one". Focus on the practicality not the level of "prestige" IMO. Quicksilver is a great card for practical rewards. That was my point.