Cap 1 Credit steps BS

[Anonymous]

I think the whole cap 1 credit steps are BS.  The way I see it is.... for example, if your approved for 1K and then "credit steps" adds 500, I'm lead to believe that in fact you are already approved for $1500.  They just use it as a gimmick.

[heirophant]

Good Call!  Never thought about that.

[Anonymous]

Well, I kinda manipulated it unintentionally.

I was approved for a new Capital One card for $500. The credit steps has a fixed increase based on your existing CL. $200->$300, $300->$500, $500->$750, etc. I got the letter saying I would be bumped to $750.

I had planned on combining my old, non-CLI account with them into the new account the entire time. When I combined, I went from $500 to $800. Then, the next month when I saw the CLI, since I was above $750, my credit step was $500 instead of $250. So I ended up with $1300.

So to sum up, there is probably rhyme to your reason, but, I don't think it's set in stone.

[unknown_entity]

They want you to establish payment history with them.  You can get an extra CLI out of the credit steps if you call the backdoor number after your third payment posts and then when your fourth statments cuts, you'll get the auto-CLI.