This is about my husband's profile, so please ignore my signature!
His scores are ~725 across the board. He's been digging out from about 20k in debt from starting a small business which has recently started doing quite well. We transferred everything to 0 balance transfer cards, and started paying the 3 year suggested payments on all of the cards. He's below 15k now. We will continue to move the money around using promos until it's paid off. We throw extra money at it when we can. Currently on track for 12-18 months to completion.
He clearly got bucketed by Capital One a long time ago. He has a Platinum card that is 19 years, 1 month old with a limit of $9500. It carries a fee of $5/month. He has called twice to have the card changed and has been told no PC is available. (I've also checked online and it says it is not valid for upgrade.) He's requested the AF be removed, they won't even waive it. He recently requested a CLI, just to help with overall utilization and they declined it due to low use (he uses his rewards cards primarily). He has never been late with this card (or any other). He has run it up and paid it off several times over. Removing it from the mix will not affect total util < 28.9. He is low on inquiries and gets offers all the time. Recently he got a bunch of CLIs that helped with individual utils that were a bit high from promotions before we found this place and modified the plan a bit.
I just want to make sure before he tells them to shove it (which he desperately wants to do) that I'm not missing a reason he should not cancel this card. Here are the ages of all of his cards:
Capital One 19 years, 1 mo
Wells Fargo, 12 yrs 5 mo*
Wells Fargo, 11 yrs*
Sync/Lows 6yrs 9mos**
PNC 3 yrs, 4 mos
Fulton 2 years, 5 mos
Citibank 2 yrs, 3 mos
Discover 1 yr
BoA 11 mos
Citizens Bank 7 mos
Td Bank 6 mos
Hsbc (only reports on EQ) 6 mos
* For the Wells Fargo cards one is his mom's and he's AU, the other is his and she is AU - he does not recall which is which
** AU for his mom's card
The AU cards are showing up on his physical credit reports.
As you can see, the 19 yr card is clearly helping, but at 60/year with no tangible benefit he really wants to let it go. Any help is appreciated, thanks for reading!
He's going to be thrilled. Thanks so much for the response!
@CreditInspired wrote:
@recoveringfrombk7 wrote:This is about my husband's profile, so please ignore my signature!
His scores are ~725 across the board. He's been digging out from about 20k in debt from starting a small business which has recently started doing quite well. We transferred everything to 0 balance transfer cards, and started paying the 3 year suggested payments on all of the cards. He's below 15k now. We will continue to move the money around using promos until it's paid off. We throw extra money at it when we can. Currently on track for 12-18 months to completion.
He clearly got bucketed by Capital One a long time ago. He has a Platinum card that is 19 years, 1 month old with a limit of $9500. It carries a fee of $5/month. He has called twice to have the card changed and has been told no PC is available. (I've also checked online and it says it is not valid for upgrade.) He's requested the AF be removed, they won't even waive it. He recently requested a CLI, just to help with overall utilization and they declined it due to low use (he uses his rewards cards primarily). He has never been late with this card (or any other). He has run it up and paid it off several times over. Removing it from the mix will not affect total util < 28.9. He is low on inquiries and gets offers all the time. Recently he got a bunch of CLIs that helped with individual utils that were a bit high from promotions before we found this place and modified the plan a bit.
I just want to make sure before he tells them to shove it (which he desperately wants to do) that I'm not missing a reason he should not cancel this card. Here are the ages of all of his cards:
Capital One 19 years, 1 mo
Wells Fargo, 12 yrs 5 mo*
Wells Fargo, 11 yrs*
Sync/Lows 6yrs 9mos**
PNC 3 yrs, 4 mos
Fulton 2 years, 5 mos
Citibank 2 yrs, 3 mos
Discover 1 yr
BoA 11 mos
Citizens Bank 7 mos
Td Bank 6 mos
Hsbc (only reports on EQ) 6 mos
* For the Wells Fargo cards one is his mom's and he's AU, the other is his and she is AU - he does not recall which is which
** AU for his mom's card
The AU cards are showing up on his physical credit reports.
As you can see, the 19 yr card is clearly helping, but at 60/year with no tangible benefit he really wants to let it go. Any help is appreciated, thanks for reading!
Is he carrying a balance on the Cap1 card? If yes, what is it? If no, does this card help with UT?
Nope, other than the $5 monthly fee. He is approximately 22% util with it and 27% without it. We have no plans that require credit before the balances are paid in full, so getting to < 9% faster isn't a primary concern. Plus, once one of the smaller cards get paid off we start a snowball and things go pretty quickly.
Oh that's an interesting thought. I went ahead and pulled his $1 reports. He's 745 EX / 754 EQ / 710 TU. There was a collection we were both unaware of on TU. PIF tonight, rep didn't know what PFD was so we will see what happens in 30-60 days and I'll follow up with GW campaign if need be. I do not know which CR they check to product change, but maybe it's worth holding out since we are making good progress. Thanks for the correction on terminology - still learning!
@Gollum wrote:I have a Capital One Visa Platinum card of the same general vintage as your husband's card (mine is 24 years old). I just checked with Capital One; my card can be product changed to their Quicksilver card, and I would not lose the age of account. My FICO scores are really high, but a FICO score of 750 is generally thought of as excellent, so your husband could wait until his FICO scores are 750+ (his $9500 limit should help his FICO scores get to 750 quicker because it helps with his utilization) and then ask Capital One for a product change to a Quicksilver. The main advantage of the product change would be to keep the age of account, and after the product change he could always do what I did and voluntarily lower his credit limit if he decides he'd rather have $9000 in credit limit(s) elsewhere. His Platinum card should be on his credit reports for ten more years, though, even if he closes it now. I know the current $5/month fee is irritating, but it's not really very much money. Maybe keep the Platinum long enough to be turned down for a product change with FICO scores 750+ before cancelling it.
Do you have the monthly fee on yours?