an orange is not an apple - so no matter how much we want to bite right into the orange peel, it is not going to ever be tasty to most of us; you cant make it what is not meant to be. U, like many of us, already know that your Cap 1 cards come with some frustrating limitations. You might feel a bit less frustrated, if you let yoru Cap 1 cards do what they are meant to do: help you (re)establish some credit and good payment history, and then when you are in a better situation, apply for better cards.
I know it is hard to hear; trust, I have gone on all types of app sprees and have called Cap1 many, many times a year over the past 4 years trying to get increases on my accounts. Someone here had typed that if you have 2 Cap1 cards, they will usually show only one love, and that was what I was seeing. Although I had my Visa slightly longer, it was the MC that received a nice increase more than a year ago. I cancelled the Visa, because I only need the one to help me build a better credit file. Since I had begun doing that, I was approved for a Disover and a Barclay card. I am pretty sure that my Cap1 MC has reached its CL ceiling!
I am still very much in the rebuilding phase, and I do get the urge to call Cap1 and ask for a CLI, which I know I will not get, and sometimes I do call. The rejections are easier to accept when I consider that I just need to use the card for what it was meant to do and to take advantage of what IS good about my C1 MC: no foreign transaction fees, no annual fee, rewards, and offers to reduce my APR after they decline my CLI. 
Even in frustration, I treat the card well - but it is with optimism that I use my Discover and Barclay card, which I would never have gotten if HSBC ( growl) and Cap 1 (growl) had not given me a chance 4 years ago. Hang in there and work your accounts so they can work for you. Trust me, use your Cap 1 cards to help you get better cards through other banks - not more C1 rebuilder cards that will not grow with you.
@Anonymous wrote:
@remarc wrote:My scores are pulled from fith third identity alert. It pulls from all three beuros once a month. I know this is not my excate scores but it gives me a bench mark,
Unfortunately it doesn't really even give you a benchmark. Your real scores could easily be a hundred points off from what random FAKO scores tell you. They don't use the same scoring algorithm or even the same score range most of the time, so any non-FICO scores are more or less useless. Services like that are good for monitoring your actual reports, but the scores they give you just don't translate into FICO scores in any way. If they happen to be close to your FICO scores, it's just coincidence.
+1
@Gollum wrote:
@remarc wrote:Guys. Thanks for all the responses..
I hold only 1 balance on all my cards and its currently $276 on a $1000. Both my capitol one cards where purely for me to build credit. I do have a Citi Platinum Card with a balance of $1500 which I will be asking to increase my limit once the 6 month marks rolls round.
I really wanted to get out of the capitol one cards with low limits $500 and $850. Seeing they would not increase my limit on either when ive asked and its been 2 years.. Guess I learned my lesion from Capitol one.. I did wonder if it was because i have two cards with them already but wouldn't they of said something when i called up and asked ???
Im looking to get another rewards card. Miles or cash rewards later in the year.. Citi I must say have been awesome from day one. so I hope when the 6 month marks comes round it works out..
My scores are pulled from fith third identity alert. It pulls from all three beuros once a month. I know this is not my excate scores but it gives me a bench mark,
Im relatively new to this country.. Moved here from the UK. Been working hard on my scores to be able to better my self in this country.. I really do appreciate any help and all the advice on this forum.
The text I highlighted above in red "does not parse." I'm guessing that is because of misunderstandings regarding definitions related to credit reports/scores. Are you calculating your utilization percentage, or are you relying on some free website to do so?
I would be happy to type out instructions for calculating your utilization percentage, but I am reluctant to do so if you can calculate it on your own.
The following link might be helpful/useful. It's one of the links in a "sticky" titled "Helpful threads," listed at the top of the homepage for this Board (Credit Cards):
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Credit-Scoring-101-START-HERE/m-p/8169
Pretty sure OP meant the Citi card has a limit of $1500, not a balance of $1500. Just a typo.
@Anonymous wrote:
@remarc wrote:
Why is capitol one so hard to work with.. they have only giving me 1 limit increase in two years.. ive never been late and never missed a payment.
:m
I hate defending Cap 1 here. I really do. This hurts, excrutiatingly, so bear with me.
But let's be honest here, okay? It's only hard to work w Cap 1 on their rebuilding and avg cards. I've found if you close them and open a prime w them, they are quite amazing.
What I find interesting is that when it comes to Orchard and their poor CS and their AFs and puny $300 CLs and none to pathetic CLIs, for ex, people are more than happy and proud to ditch them when it's time. People just don't really expect Orchard to grow with them, I guess. They don't expect to keep these cards for life. They except it's a necessary evil to rebuild. The expectations are much lower.
But w Cap 1 and their AFs and pathetic CLIs and poor CSR, people get upset. Maybe it's because even tho the credit lines are basically static they're higher, or that they do have prime cards, there's this expectation that the cards should grow?
But they don't. They're exactly the same as Orchard, and any other subprime card. There comes a time where you have to stick w it because you're rebuilding, move on to prime because you've accomplished that, or accept the pathetic-ness of having a lame card in your wallet because you don't want to take 3 hits or lose a semi-decent CL or move to a new product. But if you accept the pathetic-ness, that's you, right? Not Cap 1.
Not that it's not cool to vent, and not that it's not frustrating. But just felt like it needed to be pointed out that it is what it is w Cap 1.
Now, I need to go take a long, hot shower. That felt really dirty and yucky. Sorry.
@Gollum wrote:
@Walt_K wrote:
@Gollum wrote:
@remarc wrote:Guys. Thanks for all the responses..
I hold only 1 balance on all my cards and its currently $276 on a $1000. Both my capitol one cards where purely for me to build credit. I do have a Citi Platinum Card with a balance of $1500 which I will be asking to increase my limit once the 6 month marks rolls round.
I really wanted to get out of the capitol one cards with low limits $500 and $850. Seeing they would not increase my limit on either when ive asked and its been 2 years.. Guess I learned my lesion from Capitol one.. I did wonder if it was because i have two cards with them already but wouldn't they of said something when i called up and asked ???
Im looking to get another rewards card. Miles or cash rewards later in the year.. Citi I must say have been awesome from day one. so I hope when the 6 month marks comes round it works out..
My scores are pulled from fith third identity alert. It pulls from all three beuros once a month. I know this is not my excate scores but it gives me a bench mark,
Im relatively new to this country.. Moved here from the UK. Been working hard on my scores to be able to better my self in this country.. I really do appreciate any help and all the advice on this forum.
The text I highlighted above in red "does not parse." I'm guessing that is because of misunderstandings regarding definitions related to credit reports/scores. Are you calculating your utilization percentage, or are you relying on some free website to do so?
I would be happy to type out instructions for calculating your utilization percentage, but I am reluctant to do so if you can calculate it on your own.
The following link might be helpful/useful. It's one of the links in a "sticky" titled "Helpful threads," listed at the top of the homepage for this Board (Credit Cards):
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Credit-Scoring-101-START-HERE/m-p/8169
Pretty sure OP meant the Citi card has a limit of $1500, not a balance of $1500. Just a typo.Limit/balance misunderstandings are not typographical errors.
"Rhe quick brown fox" is a typographical error.
Lord, everyone's a critic. Fine, not a typo, more technically a substitution error. Pedantic explanations aside, OP uses limit and balance correctly elsewhere in the post, so it seems pretty clear that OP meant to say the limit on the Citi Card is $1500.