How do I escape CAP1 low limit land?

[DH1988]

Hi there!  

Okay so, I've had a cap1 card for about 10 years. It started with an extremely low limit, but has been stuck at $5k for the last few years. The reason for my CLI denials is always the same. "Average monthly payments are too low" which I totally don't understand. Last year, Feb2018 I had a balance of $3390.93. Today I owe $900 on the card. Which means within the past 12 months I've paid a total of $2490.83 on the account which is well above the requested min payments each month. 

I was informed the CLI decisions are done through an automatic system, so I'm not sure what to do. Have any of you had this/a similar experience? Even if you haven't and have some advice, I'd appreciate it! What would you guys do in this situation?

[Remedios]

You could pay it all down to $0.00, continue putting a heavy spend and PIF every month, then ask for CLI a few months later. 

Or you could move on to a better cards. 

[CreditInspired]

Hi OP

IMHO, I think Cap1 doesn’t like that it took a year to pay $2,490 and there’s still $900 outstanding. So the large portion of your monthly payments went toward interest. If you can, try to pay the remaining balance in 2-3 payments, leaving $20 stmt balance. Then, over the next 3-4 months, put purchases on your card and PIF. Let Cap1 see you in the habit of PIF.

GL2U

[DH1988]

Ahh okay! That's helpful. THANK YOU

[Anonymous]

I think their reason makes good sense.  You had a balance, seemingly for some time, that was > 50% of your limit.  That's a sign of elevated risk.  The fact that you took it down to just below 20% utilization is definitely a move in the right direction, but you really want to pay the thing off IMO and make your request at that time.  You also have to consider that their SPs see all of your other accounts as well, so keep in mind that your other balances/individual card utilization percentages can be factored in outside of what you have going on with Capital One.

[Priory_Man]

I ran into the same problem with Amex a while ago. Paying the card to zero and then using and PIF for the next two statements got me the CLI on the 91st day after denial.
I would do as others have said, pay the card all the way down as soon as you are able, use it for a couple of months then hit that button.

[Anonymous]

I feel your pain!! I have cap1 QS stuck on 3,000 cl for years. always denied with same message as yours!! Utilization just south of 50% with a cs over 710. 1 inq in 2 years. 10 years of on time payments seem to count for nothing with them!!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Utilization just south of 50%... 10 years of on time payments seem to count for nothing with them!!

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Utilization that high is a red flag of increased risk.  If someone has utilization at that level for a length of time, it's usually because they can't pay off the balance for whatever reason.  There aren't many out there that can pay off an interest-bearing balance that simply decide not to.  That being said, it makes complete sense that they aren't willing to extend additional credit to someone that [seemingly] can't pay off their current balance.  Think of it with business sense from the lens of Capital One.  Pay off your balance as others have suggested and maintain PIF behavior for a few cycles and things can certainly change.