The AF hit on my cap 1 venture card. For the first time ever they are refusing to waive the AF. Cap 1 during the pandemic slashed my credit line from 13k to 5k. My question is what should I do with this card?
Factors:
1. The card stays in the SD and gets pretty much zero use. I have better cards for spend.
2. The card is my oldest active credit card on my report, so I was considering downgrading to a no-AF card to keep the account age but I am not hearing good things about the downgrade options.
3. The transfer rates aren't that great so I don't see any reason why I would pay the AF
4. I am a bit annoyed that they slashed my credit line (I got this card before cap 1 started handing out credit like crazy so I think I initially started with a 5k line). Still I don't use the card so I understand why they did it and I have a significant amount of credit with other lenders so it won't impact my credit util.
In summary the only reason to keep the card is to help my AAoAs. Account is like 8 years old. I have some others around the same age, so it is a shame to lose it but I'm not really a fan of cap 1 and I figure they may close out a no-AF card if I don't put spend on it. I don't really feel like babysitting a 5k card that does nothing for me. Any thoughts on what I should do? Any idea on the best transfer travel partners if I have point balances with citi, amex and chase?
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@FinStar wrote:Definitely consider any transfer options before you decide to close it or even PC.
So, if the downgrade, no-AF options of VentureOne or a PC to Quicksilver are of no appeal, then that pretty much sums it up unless you feel you can squeeze anything else from Venture. If you close it, your AAoA is unaffected for up to 10 years (the closed account is still factored into those metrics until it drops off your CRs).
Yea I know. Just hate closing it since its my oldest account but I have another account that is almost the same age and I have five no-AF cards that I plan on keeping. (3 freedoms [one of each kind], an amex everyday and a citibank double cash. They are all not as old, but if I keep them for another ten years they should help offset the cards I end up closing. My AAoAs looks to be 8 years and nine months so I guess it doesn't matter if I close it.
I totally get the hesitance in closing the card, but everything about your post screams CLOSE lol.
@red259, to my way of thinking, unless you're using the Venture card's travel benefits on a regular basis, what's the point of having it? I've considered that card a few times and always come up short in the "Why bother?" department. There are many more targeted travel related credit cards I'd rather have over the Venture card. Said another way, if I was going to opt for one of CapOne's AF cards, it would be the Savor over the Venture any day of the week.
@Loquat wrote:
I have the Venture card as well and like you, CapOne wouldn't waive the AF. The only reason I'm hanging on to it and keeping it as a Venture rather than PCing it to something else is the potential that may (or may not) come.
CapOne is very hard to get approved for these days. Lately they've been making some interesting changes to the Venture card. They've added more transfer partners, talk or airport lounges, and who knows what the future hold.
I may be paying $95 on a hope and a dream but for $95 bucks I'm not ready to ditch the card just yet. I'm thinking (hoping) that this card continues to evolve or they add a unique transfer partner or even (and it's a huge wish for me) partner with someone like Hyatt.
All of this could be a fruitless dream...but again, for $95 I'm willing to hang in there a little longer...especially since they've waived the AF so many times in the past.
If it were a card that I could obtain easily in the future, I would consider ditching it or even PCing it to something else...but I'm fairly certain CapOne wouldn't toss me another Venture card...especially with a limit north of $40k.
That's my reason for hanging on to it... @red259 do chime in if you'd like and less us know how you decide.
Yes you raise a good point. Cap 1 has been making changes. Since they reduced my credit line for non-use I don't have any sort of incentive to keep the credit line open to assist with credit util. What I might like to do is downgrade to a no-AF card and monitor the situation for another year and see what cap 1 does with the venture card. I don't think I can get the SUB again(although I am not certain of this). I am confident I can get approved for another venture card in the future though, but don't want to waste an app if there is no SUB.
So If I wish to downgrade just to monitor the cap 1 venture situation for the coming year what would be the best move? QS or Venture 1. I would want to be able to accumulate points that I could then transfer if I ever upgraded back up to the venture card. Do either of these cards have a history of bonuses for upgrading to the venture card? Can they both be PC'd back to a venture card?
Someone was telling me once the AF posts with cap 1 they require you pay it even if you PC to a non-AF card. I don't know if this is true or not. Seems weird to me. On top of that though I just realized my AF is not the $95 AF. It is the $59 AF so I am wondering if I should just pay it to see what happens with this card and the benefits over the next year and then maybe next year they will waive the AF for me. There is talk of cap 1 doing something with airport lounges and given what is going on with the amex plat and possible AF hike maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to wait and see....
Update: I ended up just keeping the card for the following reasons:
1. It is my oldest account,
2. I want to see what changes get made to the card over the course of the next year, especially when I don't know what will happen with my plat card and if I will even be keeping it,
3. probably the biggest factor is that I realized my AF is only $59 instead of the current $95. If I needed to pay the $95 AF I think I would have walked away from it. However, with the reduced AF and maybe a possibility of being able to get an AF waiver next year it was a little easier to swallow.
In the end this is a calculated gamble. That maybe the changes cap 1 makes will become of value to me. I was able to transfer the points I did have to avianca with a 25% point bonus