Capital One APR Reduction? My head hurts...

[Mech85]

Hi!

So I've been looking at some of my credit stuff recently and remembered I was angry at Capital One, but didn't get a chance to do anything about it because of important life things that were happening at the time. The short version is that I'm trying to reduce my Cap One APR to something reasonable and am running into a brick wall. If anyone has some advice, I'd appreciate it greatly!!

Story:

1. Capital One is my oldest card, about 10 or 11 years old. I'd prefer not to cancel it and take the age hit.
2. I have the hideous and obnoxiously bright gold VentureOne card (was upgraded/PC'd from a Platinum without my request about 1.5 years ago)
3. Several years back my interest rate went from something reasonable (don't remember) to 22.9% for no reason besides "because we can."
4. No late payments, no overage, always pay above minimum, lately been keeping about $500 on the card of the $3000 balance.

I used their online chat and was transferred to some low-level CSR who said no to an APR change (shocker) so I escalated to a supervisor, who also said no. Despite the fact I've been a customer for over a decade without missing any payments or going over my limit, I apparently just need to "keep doing what I'm doing" and see if it changes.

Well, I've been "doing what I've been doing" for over ten years and the only thing that's happened to my card in that time was an automatic CLI about 8 years ago, and an APR jacking (I think it almost doubled) when they pulled that stuff on lots of people a few years back for no valid reason whatsoever. Something about "economic times are rough so we are increasing your rate" or some garbage. 

The only thing that supervisor did was credit me for 2 months of interest charges as a convenience. I said thank you and okay, but made it clear I was still seeking to lower my APR and this didn't satisfy my complaint. When I asked for his higher ups, or an address of some kind, he said there was no one of higher authority (LOL). Some quick googling and I got Fairbank's email address and quoted it to him asking "this is your CEO, right?" to which he just responds "sorry, I don't have that information." Right, okay, well it's not this guys fault since he can only do what his script and screen tell him.

So that's where I'm at. When I pulled my Experian FiCO here a few months ago, it was 811. I've let some balances build (slightly) and I'm in the 15% or so range of total credit utilization between all my accounts. I eMailed the CEO my request and mentioned that I would have to transfer my balance to another card if we didn't reach some type of compromise (for the record, my other interest rates are 10.25 & 15.25, and I did tell each person this). I always stay very polite and professional when I write letters and talk to customer service, but I haven't received a response yet.

So that's the story. If anyone has any advice I'd be happy to hear it! I'd really like to not cancel the card if I can since it's giving me a great average account age. 

Thanks!!

-Mech

PS - Funny thing, today I received mail from Cap One with some checks in it for cash, BTs and the like, with no transaction fee and 1.99% for 12 months. I guess I could always move the balance to another creditor then have capital one buy it back at that rate, but that seems like something shady, haha.

[gdale6]

The EO will call you, it can take up to a week in reading previous threads on this matter though usually someone calls within 48 hours.

[NoAnchoviesPlease]

I heard back from the EO late on the second business day after my email to the CEO address (sent late on a weekend) about a CLI after 5 years. The rep asked the usual financials questions, what CLI amount I wanted, and if I would consider a partial increase if they didn't approve the full amount. 

She said to expect a response in 5 business days after they investigated the options. APR reduction might not take that long, but it's safe to give them 5 days for initial response and 5 days for followup. And worst case, your sock drawer can take care of the card for you. 

Best of luck. 

[Mech85]

Hi,

Just following up with this for anyone who is interested. I finally got ahold of the EO by calling them back a few times and discussed the situation. In a nutshell, they were unwilling to do any kind of PC or come close to anything that matches the APR on my other cards. The only thing offered was to return my APR to what it was before the big "we're increasing your APR because we can" wave of '09. 

The original APR was a fixed rate but they are keeping it variable. It's not optimal by any means but it brings my APR down to sub 20% at least. I've heard that getting a lower APR with Cap One can be like moving a mountain, so I guess I can chalk this up as a minor victory. I'm still not satisfied so I'll likely throw the card in the sock drawer after moving the balance elsewhere, but at least there was some level of results with the whole thing.

Thanks for the help! :-)