@canadahockey19 wrote:@Chynamp - I am in the exact same boat with a CapOne secured card, and our situations look very similar. I also opened my card in July 2011, same $200 limit, only mine was a $99 fee. I eventually sunk another $800 over time to bring my limit to at least $1K. Not more than 4-5 days ago, I called CapOne and asked what the chances of EVER graduating the card would be since its been 7 years, no late pays and NO CLI at all during the 7 years. Rep gave me the same song and dance about unsecuring being something new for CapOne and that they would let me know should I be considered for card graduation in the future. I let her know that this card has absolutely no use to me without unsecuring/combining as in April 2017 I opened a Discover (secured, but graduated in 7 months) now at $2,700, AMEX BCE $10K 1/18, PenFed Sig Visa $5K 4/18, and (regrettably) a CapOne QS $5,500 3/18. She said she understood and closed the account (card has had a 0$ balance and no activity for last 7 months). Since I have thought of closing this account for some time now, I didn't get too upset that she never confirmed with me before closing it. The only thing that kept me from closing before now was the fear of closing my oldest (by far) account even though the service I've received from CapOne over the years has been mediocre, at best. CapOne can definitly take a lesson from Discover, AMEX and PenFed when it comes to their customer service. All 3 of those companies have have been exceptional to work with via online chat or phone. I still have the CapOne QS, but it will rarely if ever get used. Too bad I wasted the HP on all 3 bureaus to get that card. Looking forward to my next MyFico report in a couple weeks to see how quickly they report the account closure, and to see if any negative impact.
Thanks for the post!
Cap1 doesn't care. They're the 4th largest credit card issuer and pretty much the only major one that deals with sub-prime accounts. For every person with good credit they lose, they'll replace them with 10 people who are having a hard time getting credit anywhere else. They have a place in building and rebuilding. Once they've done their job, move on.
@ canadahockey19 - Wow, our situations are almost identical. Your story further confirms what everyone else has been saying. Their rationale for not unsecuring makes absolutely no sense, they should just say your card will never unsecure. Hopefully there is little to no negative impact on your scores from the closure. Based on all the responses, I think we will be better off in the long run and will get much better cards with better service.
@ everyone - Thanks all! Mr. Capital One Secured will be hitting the shredder tomorrow
@pipeguy wrote:Close that card - it'll stay on your reports for 10 years - and if I were you I'd tell Cap-1 to jump in the Potomac (I'm trying to be nice).
Must be some kind of record, 7 years secured card with an annual fee.
Hah, not even close bud.
I have a friend who picked up a secured card (think is with C1 now after the wave of acquisitions over time) with a fee right after his BK; the fee is absolutely trivial to him and it is now ~23 years old as I think he got it in 1994-1995.
No reason to close it if the AF is trivial and it's a long tradeline: if the AF is not trivial, then absolutely close it out.
I still keep my Zync as it was one of my earliest cards, the $25 is meaningless (oh no one less dinner out a year), and odds are Amex will never close the account regardless of what happens... that's one thing having a small AF gets you assuming you have any small recurring charge at all on it.
That and it's pretty 
.
Neither of my sub-prime cards from them are showing any real growth. Got a secured back in 2016 that did unsecure but is currently at $600 CL after a measly $100 increase in December. Tried requesting a CLI tonight and they come back with another $100 increase. My other secured card for Feb 2017 has yet to unsecure. They're my oldest cards, so I will probably just end up putting them in the sock drawer (especially if the secured card doesn't unsecure when the next statement cuts next week).
