What Utilization % is good for CLI from Capital One?

[Anonymous]

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@Curious_George2 wrote:

For me, this denial reason is tied to a rule that seems to require aggregate utilization on revolving accounts to be under 30% and each individual revolver to be under 80%. Here's a link to a post where I discussed it.

As mentioned above, some people have found that Capital One goes 3-4 months between account review pulls, so any improvements you make might that long for them to notice. That hasn't been my experience, so YMMV.

And yes, the CLIs they are giving out now are basically 10%, with some rounding. Post 17 in the linked thread shows more detail about that.

Good luck! 

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I totally agree. As I shared, I rarely get SP'd, but my SO gets SP'd all the time. There were 2 months or so where he got SO'd near daily, if not daily by Cap One. Who knows the rhyme or reason. I figured it was because he had higher reporting util at the time. Good ol Sync did mid cycle balance update and it brought his individual util on that card to maxxed out range and thats when the almost/daily SP's began and then slowed once the reported balance was brought back down and reflected.

[Repairman]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Repairman wrote:

I requested a cli yesterday on my Capital One Venture card, and it was denied. They did a sp on EQ and the only reason given for the denial is your financial obligations reported to us is too high. I viewed the CR they referenced, and it shows my utilization at 23%, but that is actually out of date and not updated. The report is actually still showing thousands of dollars of debt that has already been paid off. Therefore, once EQ updates, I do intend to request an increase again, but what would people advise is a good utilzation percentage for me to wait to achieve, before requesting, to increase my chances of getting a CLI from Cap One?

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When you decide to ask for a CLI again, I would pull your annual credit reports (free to do so weekly thru 4/2021 - no scores) and see if Cap One has SP'd you lately. While the CRs may reflect changes, the report Cap One has may be very outdated. These reports specifically show when you jave been SP'd. You can pull EQ exclusively since that is what they are checking, it seems.

I recently got an auto CLI from them and they rarely SP me, but I noticed just a couple of days prior that they had SP'd my EQ. This was the first time in probably 6 months. I had been planning on hitting the luv button next month and was checking the last time they had felt me out. My util was much higher than usual (usually 1%, but had 30% reporting at time of SP, though, I have low credit limits, so raw $ is low).

So I sugeest double checking when they actually SP you. They don't do it when you hit the luv button. 

To echo the poster above, they have been tight with the purse strings and have been giving $100 (min) or 10% of CL for CLI when requested.

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That brings up a whole other issue I have. It's very strange. I'm not sure why, but it won't allow me to access any reports but Transunion. For the 1st 2 weeks I accessed them, several months back, I got all 3 with no problem. However, since then, I can only access Transunion online. For EQ and EXP it tells me to send a written request and it wants me to supply documentation like photo id, etc. I'm not going through all of that, so I've just been viewing my Transunion free weekly.

[Curious_George2]

I have similar issues. I can never get EQ from annualcreditreport.com. @Anonymous taught me a nifty work-around. You can sign up for myEquifax.com and get one free report per month, and it actually shows SP inquiries. One bummer is that Capital One's soft pulls only get reported until the next one occurs, but it's better than nothing.

[Repairman]

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@Curious_George2 wrote:

I have similar issues. I can never get EQ from annualcreditreport.com. @Anonymous taught me a nifty work-around. You can sign up for myEquifax.com and get one free report per month, and it actually shows SP inquiries. One bummer is that Capital One's soft pulls only get reported until the next one occurs, but it's better than nothing.

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Good to know. I wonder if Experian has a similar set up. I'm assuming the EQ site is free...are there any other advantages to signing up?

[Curious_George2]

Yes, myEquifax has a free membership option that includes the reports I mentioned. I think you could pay something to get more, but I've never looked closely at that option.

EX is a little different. They do have some cool stuff available at experian.com, including the surprising ability to do one free trial after another (cancel before you incur charges), with no limit. I like their services and interface quite a bit, but unfortunately the reports they provide do not include SPs. The only place I've been able to get EX reports with SPs shown is ACR. I used to have trouble getting EX reports from ACR, but I think I got it to work one time by... turning off my adblocker, or using Firefox or some other browser, or maybe using incognito mode? I don't remember the details, but once it worked, it kept working without any further problems. (Hope I didn't jinx it by saying that!) 

[AverageJoesCredit]

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@Repairman wrote:

I requested a cli yesterday on my Capital One Venture card, and it was denied. They did a sp on EQ and the only reason given for the denial is your financial obligations reported to us is too high. I viewed the CR they referenced, and it shows my utilization at 23%, but that is actually out of date and not updated. The report is actually still showing thousands of dollars of debt that has already been paid off. Therefore, once EQ updates, I do intend to request an increase again, but what would people advise is a good utilzation percentage for me to wait to achieve, before requesting, to increase my chances of getting a CLI from Cap One?

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I think its more based off spend then utilization. Imo

[AverageJoesCredit]

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@FinStar wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

So I sugeest double checking when they actually SP you. They don't do it when you hit the luv button. 

To echo the poster above, they have been tight with the purse strings and have been giving $100 (min) or 10% of CL for CLI when requested.

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Just adding to what's mentioned above, temper your expectations as far as a CLI, OP.  

If you haven't used the card substantially, there may not be a CLI; or if approved, it is not going to be anything like AmEx or BoA, for instance.  

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This, people put too much into percentages.  Ok get a $100 cli , thats a 10% increase, lol, but its still $100. Im poor and $100 is alot to me but credit wise it does very little as everything is so expensive nowadays  it gives very little leeway to use. Cap One is off their gourd to want super heavy spend and even then only offer up a hunsky. No way would i keep persuing cli from a lender like that

[AverageJoesCredit]

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@Repairman wrote:

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@FinStar wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

So I sugeest double checking when they actually SP you. They don't do it when you hit the luv button. 

To echo the poster above, they have been tight with the purse strings and have been giving $100 (min) or 10% of CL for CLI when requested.

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Just adding to what's mentioned above, temper your expectations as far as a CLI, OP.  

If you haven't used the card substantially, there may not be a CLI; or if approved, it is not going to be anything like AmEx or BoA, for instance.  

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That's the thing, I have used it substantially. It is an almost $20,000 cl that was used close to the max 2 years ago and paid down to 0 that same year, and then brought to pretty much that same amount again last year and paid down again. Currently has a $3000 balance.

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Insane!, 20k spend and nothing? Time to put that spend elsewhere

[Anonymous]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:

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I think its more based off spend then utilization. Imo

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I agree 100%.  OP, take your $20k card.  Say you were spending $10k/mo on it and immediately paying it off.  Your spend would be 50% of your limit, but your [reported] utilization would be 0%.  Conversely, you could spend $10k/mo and wait for that $10k to cut on your statement before paying it off (floating $10k monthly) which would be the same 50% spend of your limit, but would result in 50% reported utilization.  The reported utilization while it may impact your Fico scores IMO isn't a significant factor for Capital One.  When looking at that 0% or 50% utilization on the account neither is really any "better" or "worse" than the other, as they're still getting your $10k spend and $10k payment monthly.

I also agree with AJC that if you've run your balance up to your $20k limit twice now and paid it off that there's not much more you can do in terms of spend/payment to grab their attention in terms of CLI stimulation other than do that more frequently... but then you run into the territory of you working for the card rather than the card working for you and it's just not worth it.

[trvlscmmr]

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@Repairman wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Repairman wrote:

I requested a cli yesterday on my Capital One Venture card, and it was denied. They did a sp on EQ and the only reason given for the denial is your financial obligations reported to us is too high. I viewed the CR they referenced, and it shows my utilization at 23%, but that is actually out of date and not updated. The report is actually still showing thousands of dollars of debt that has already been paid off. Therefore, once EQ updates, I do intend to request an increase again, but what would people advise is a good utilzation percentage for me to wait to achieve, before requesting, to increase my chances of getting a CLI from Cap One?

---

When you decide to ask for a CLI again, I would pull your annual credit reports (free to do so weekly thru 4/2021 - no scores) and see if Cap One has SP'd you lately. While the CRs may reflect changes, the report Cap One has may be very outdated. These reports specifically show when you jave been SP'd. You can pull EQ exclusively since that is what they are checking, it seems.

I recently got an auto CLI from them and they rarely SP me, but I noticed just a couple of days prior that they had SP'd my EQ. This was the first time in probably 6 months. I had been planning on hitting the luv button next month and was checking the last time they had felt me out. My util was much higher than usual (usually 1%, but had 30% reporting at time of SP, though, I have low credit limits, so raw $ is low).

So I sugeest double checking when they actually SP you. They don't do it when you hit the luv button. 

To echo the poster above, they have been tight with the purse strings and have been giving $100 (min) or 10% of CL for CLI when requested.

---

That brings up a whole other issue I have. It's very strange. I'm not sure why, but it won't allow me to access any reports but Transunion. For the 1st 2 weeks I accessed them, several months back, I got all 3 with no problem. However, since then, I can only access Transunion online. For EQ and EXP it tells me to send a written request and it wants me to supply documentation like photo id, etc. I'm not going through all of that, so I've just been viewing my Transunion free weekly.

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I would try Experian. They offer 1month free trial. I usually sign up for the trial and cancel after obtaining the 3 bureau report from them. The same offer is always available again after 31 days from the previous signup date when I login. 

I haven't paid for a credit report in nearly 2 years; there have been a few months when I have received a lower offer. I usually refuse and try logging in a few days later. The 30 day free trial offer has always returned. This membership is intended to only offer 1 annual 3-bureau report but by cancelling each month you get all 3 reports monthly.