How bad is it to carry a almost maxed Capitial one card

[Carloscda40]

It's a QS that I've for about 2yrs now as a rebulder. I payed it off once and they gave my an cli to $500.

Planning on paying it off in full by Jan. and leave it at 0.

Is it a bad thing that I carried a high balance?

Will C1 give another cli?

[Anonymous]

They, most likely, will not give you a CLI - but it has nothing to do with carrying a high balance. Instead, these low-limit CapOne cards tend to be bucketed and will see little to no growth no matter what you do. 

[Anonymous]

The answer is that it depends greatly on your profile.  Take someone with a clean/thick/aged file with 800+ Fico scores that's got $90k in income and they can ride with a single maxed out card for a length of time likely without any issues.  Conversely if you have someone with a dirty/thin/young file, 600-700 scores that's got $25k in income with the same maxed out card it will be viewed far differently. 

Maxing out a card in and of itself is fine, it's really all about how quick you pay it off.  Even someone with a weak profile can max out a card every month so long as they are paying it off monthly as well.  In fact, that type of Transactor pattern is exactly what a lender likes to see in terms of healthy credit behavior and such behavior often will result in a CLI.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

They, most likely, will not give you a CLI - but it has nothing to do with carrying a high balance. Instead, these low-limit CapOne cards tend to be bucketed and will see little to no growth no matter what you do. 

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Agreed. When I started rebuilding, I wish I had researched CO more. It's been about 3 years and after the initial (and pretty much only) CLIs I received, forget about it. I just have them for AAoA.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The answer is that it depends greatly on your profile.  Take someone with a clean/thick/aged file with 800+ Fico scores that's got $90k in income and they can ride with a single maxed out card for a length of time likely without any issues.  Conversely if you have someone with a dirty/thin/young file, 600-700 scores that's got $25k in income with the same maxed out card it will be viewed far differently. 

Maxing out a card in and of itself is fine, it's really all about how quick you pay it off.  Even someone with a weak profile can max out a card every month so long as they are paying it off monthly as well.  In fact, that type of Transactor pattern is exactly what a lender likes to see in terms of healthy credit behavior and such behavior often will result in a CLI.

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Exactly this. I've done it several times. I ride out a maxed card making minimum payments until the 0% intro expires and then PIF. Never had an issue. My CFU is currently at 69% util and will slowly climb until the end of June. It won't get to 99% like I've done with others but should get to 75%.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Exactly this. I've done it several times. I ride out a maxed card making minimum payments until the 0% intro expires and then PIF. Never had an issue. My CFU is currently at 69% util and will slowly climb until the end of June. It won't get to 99% like I've done with others but should get to 75%.

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Nice, and I bet you've never been on the receiving end of AA with either your high utilization card or any other cards at the time due to your otherwise solid and low-risk profile.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Exactly this. I've done it several times. I ride out a maxed card making minimum payments until the 0% intro expires and then PIF. Never had an issue. My CFU is currently at 69% util and will slowly climb until the end of June. It won't get to 99% like I've done with others but should get to 75%.

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Nice, and I bet you've never been on the receiving end of AA with either your high utilization card or any other cards at the time due to your otherwise solid and low-risk profile.

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No. I've maxed out cards in early 2009 without issue. The only AA I got was recently 😪 with cap1 who reduced my CL from 27,500 to 10K, but that reduction was widespread and not due to any problems. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

They, most likely, will not give you a CLI - but it has nothing to do with carrying a high balance. Instead, these low-limit CapOne cards tend to be bucketed and will see little to no growth no matter what you do. 

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I second this. Over 2 years with a QS (now Platinum) and received a single CLI "make your first 5 payments on time and receive a 50% CLI!" as part of the deal. Went from $1000 SL to a $1500 and have been here since. I tried using it as my daily driver but results were demoralizing. There are both cards that give more generous starting SL as well as those that give more generous and frequent CLI. I wouldn't be surprised to see overlap between those categories, as well. 

C1 is like trying to live your life for the sole purpose of making your parents proud. May help paint you as a "good guy" but you make more money striking out on your own, outside of their little box (er, bucket!) and doing things your way. Find an offer (outside of C1) - they're the stepping stone, not the entire staircase. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

The answer is that it depends greatly on your profile.  Take someone with a clean/thick/aged file with 800+ Fico scores that's got $90k in income and they can ride with a single maxed out card for a length of time likely without any issues.  Conversely if you have someone with a dirty/thin/young file, 600-700 scores that's got $25k in income with the same maxed out card it will be viewed far differently. 

Maxing out a card in and of itself is fine, it's really all about how quick you pay it off.  Even someone with a weak profile can max out a card every month so long as they are paying it off monthly as well.  In fact, that type of Transactor pattern is exactly what a lender likes to see in terms of healthy credit behavior and such behavior often will result in a CLI.

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Exactly this. I've done it several times. I ride out a maxed card making minimum payments until the 0% intro expires and then PIF. Never had an issue. My CFU is currently at 69% util and will slowly climb until the end of June. It won't get to 99% like I've done with others but should get to 75%.

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While this is probably going to be OK with your profile, we always have to remember that sometimes these things are fine until they are not.    If market trend gets bad, or a particular issuer gets into some trouble, slow-paying,  0% interest, maxed cards are an obvious target.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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No. I've maxed out cards in early 2009 without issue. The only AA I got was recently 😪 with cap1 who reduced my CL from 27,500 to 10K, but that reduction was widespread and not due to any problems. 

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Yes, > $10k Cap One limits reduced to $10k flat is a well-documented CLD for many.  Definitely not the result of AA due to utilization elsewhere.