Capital One Upgrade help needed

[Anonymous]

My oldest line of credit is a capital one Quicksilver card. I got it when I had horrible credit and they gave me $750. A year and a half ago we paid off all cards and that's when I noticed a late warning for a $39 balance months later. It turns out I went all that time not realizing I also had an annual fee. As I mentioned, my husband has the same starter card with no fee. I called end they refunded it as a one time courtesy (May 2020) and said my husband and I were given different terms because of different credit. This is a card I never use, but keep around for the age. I have multiple cards going into the $16,000 limit and current overall credit utilization is 9% which is about to be zero. Don't worry, I will put things back on it.

Anyway, with that fee coming up again I called and asked for upgrade options. The only option they gave me was Quicksilver One with the same $39 annual fee. The only reason I wanted to upgrade was to get rid of the dang fee. Credit score is currently 790 on Experian so I'm a bit frustrated that they only had one option for me.

Now, here's where I need advice. Would you take the upgrade or wait it out for another upgrade option further down the line? Would taking the upgrade allow me to upgrade that card again later to a no fee card? Is the fact that I never use that card making it hard to upgrade?

If you've made it this far, thanks for sticking with me...

[Ficoproblems247]

So your current card is a Quicksilver, not a QuicksilverOne? If that's the case then there is no reason to change as the whole point of the upgrade is to ditch the AF. Their starter cards with the AF are notoriously hard to PC. If you do chose to close the card, it will still remain on your reports for roughly 10 years and continue to contribute to your account age. 

[Horseshoez]

@Anonymous, unless you need the age of the card to help with your average account age, I'd close it.  Odds on bet they'll circle back around to you within 6-months and make you a pre-approved offer for a fee free card.  In fact, while that was not my intent last year, I did close one of their starter cards during the first week of June and lo-and-behold, the first week of December they sent me a pre-approval for a fee free Quicksilver card, and which I opted to apply for and accept.

[Anonymous]

Correct. I had no idea it'd hang on for 10 years. I will probably do that then, thanks!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info! I don't really need another card so wouldn't apply if given the chance. I just wanted to keep the age and get rid of the fee. 90% of my cards are from 2016 on so I don't have a lot of length. But, I do have around 80k in available credit. Capital one was generous and upped my limit to $2,500 last year. 🙄 

[HeavenOhio]

Are you sure this is a Quicksilver card? We routinely see Quicksilver cards with lousy terms, but I've never heard of one with a fee.

I've heard of strange upgrade offers, though. It wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility that you're being offered an "upgrade" from a QuicksilverOne to QuicksilverOne.

Closing is definitely an option. If you want to give it the good old college try and attempt to lose the fee, use the card each and every month. I was able to upgrade two QS1s to no-fee Quicksilvers after 12 or 13 consecutive months of usage and payments. Not using the card is pretty much a guarantee of not receiving an offer to upgrade to a no-fee card.

[Anonymous]

I had to check. I haven't even activated the new card they sent. It's actually a platinum MasterCard not quicksilver, now that I've pulled it out. I guess that explains it. My credit was under 500 at the time with numerous collection accounts.

So with that said, do I upgrade now knowing it's not a quicksilver or wait it out and try using it each month? The guy said I could ask for them to remove the fee after it's charged, "as a one time courtesy". I explained I used that on the last one and he just said, "Well, that's always an option". Umm, okay?

[HeavenOhio]

It looks like you have an ancient Platinum card with a fee. We run across those from time to time. Like the QuicksilverOne, it's hard to lose the fee on those cards.

If you take the upgrade, you won't be offered another for at least six months. But as mentioned, it's hard to get upgrade offers on Capital One cards with fees. At least you'd start to get rewards.

Have you been using this card on a regular basis? If not, I think I'd take the upgrade since you'd probably be more than six months away from losing the fee. If you're close to 12 or 13 consecutive months of usage right now, I'd maybe hold off until you reach that point before committing to an offer.

[Anonymous]

I haven't used it in years so definitely nowhere close to that mark. I think I will go ahead and upgrade then try again in 6 months. Thank you for all of the help! Greatly appreciate it.

[HeavenOhio]

@Anonymous, all of the options were good ones. Upgrading and taking advantage of the rewards makes sense.

Keep using the card. You don't have to use it a lot. In my months of consecutive usage, sometimes there was only one small charge in a month. I'd often just charge something, then pay it off as soon as the transaction posted.

Check your husband's card. If he has a no-fee Platinum, it's possible that he has a no-fee Quicksilver waiting for him.