psychoinhell said:
"The biggest problem people have with Cap1 is that they do not fulfill their expectations in the long run. In the short run people are happy to have the card, but if they are doing all the right things they will quickly out grow the card."
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That's the gist of a large part of it. I can attest to it quite well. Last October, my credit was rebuilding in the low-mid 600s and they approved me for a $1000 Platinum card. My first card in quite a while. I had been dealing only with debits for years. So I used the heck out of it...sometimes charging $1500 in a month on it and always paying in full. When I asked for a CLI after a few months of showing my worth, I was denied. Pissed me off. As winter turned to spring and my credit was in the low-mid 700s, I was denied a CLI again. Then I was denied a prime card (Spark Cash) when Chase and Amex were approving me with very high limits (or no preset limit with Amex). And still they denied me a CLI on the Platinum. Since then, I have been just moved from $1000 to $1500 on that Platinum (big whoop) while very high limits on my primes with cash back rewards to boot. I don't use the Platinum anymore and they won't change the card.
Now I understand they have their protocol to follow but lets face the facts: I have a Chase Ink, an Amex Plum and Cap 1 Spark Cash (just got it) with high limits and my scores are all in the upper 700s. They have to realize that puny, boring Platinum is going to be ignored. Why not upgrade it and keep up with evolving customers? My story is hardly unique. Your description nailed it perfectly and it applies to many people. Cap 1 would do better with customer relations to grow with good customers and treat them like prime customers when they grow from subprime to prime.
But again, their approval process stinks. Their way of dealing with applicants is awful. They lose many people who would pass a recon with a live analyst because they make it so darned difficult and the lag time to wait for a letter when the others with tell you right away is also annoying. Like I said, my recon took an enormous effort that most peole simply won't give and two months of time that most people simply won't put up with. I snuck through. How many good applicants do they send away because their approve/deny master computer tripped up on some credit report details that human eyeballs would have dealt with in a more intelligent way? I'd say lots.
So, in the end, yours truly is a Capital One Customer with 2 cards and I just pushed the limits of perserverance to get my Spark Cash Business Card...which I am thrilled to have because it will give me the best cash back on most of my business purchases that don't fall within the 5% categories on the Chase Ink. I have had every wrong righted with them and I have a hard time saying anything good about them. I wanted the Spark for my own personal gain. I have no love for the company that issued me the card.
Start (Sept 2011): low-mid 600s. NOW: TU FICO: 801, EQ FICO 808, EX FICO 798 (PSECU). Goal: Achieved! Now Maintain!
OK. I just got the Capital One Spark Cash in the mail today that I had discussed in the previous post and others. They gave me a measely $5,000 credit limit. Anyone who operates a business knows that that is not a lot of money. My Chase Ink was approved back in early March with a single pull of my TransUnion when the score was about 735. I got a $7000 limit. This current cycle which ends on 6/5/12 has already had over $7500 charged on it (about average so far) with a current balance of a little over $2600 still sitting there. My Amex Plum was instantly approved two weeks after the Ink with a single pull of Experian which was only 702 at the time. My "No Preset Spending Limit" hasn't hit a ceiling yet and my current cycle (5/19->6/18) has just under $18,000 charged already and the balance is still sitting there ready to be added onto. All in all, since mid March, these two cards have had about $56,000 charged as of this typing and still climbing. And I haven't paid a penny of interest so far and never will. Both cards are paid promptly throughout the monthly cycle are immediately in full just after the statement date.
Well, in my recon for the Spark, I included photocopies of statements from my two other cards just to show them the volume of charges I intended to move over to the Spark. In the letter I included in my recon packet, I explained that about 80% of those purchases were destined for the Spark because of superior 2% rewards over the Ink's non-bonus category 1% and Amex's 1.5% on the entire balance. During the recon, they even tri-pulled pulled my credit again (unauthorized BTW and I intend to fight it) and saw a TU FICO of 781 and EX FICO of 762. Well above the scores that Chase and Amex saw in March. And still, they approve me for only $5000.
I called ask for a CLI and of course, they said no with the customary snail letter to follow with an explanation that Peggy cannot see and no ability for me to speak to a decision maker about the matter. THIS is the kind of crap that drives me up a wall with this company. If they want to keep a wall between real decision makers and subprime applicants, I suppose that's sort of understandable. But this kind of treatment for its prime card customers who intend to do a lot of business is simply inexcusable. Peggy said she'd pass on my complaints about this protocol but I told her it's pointless because I have made these complaints in the past to no avail and I am certain that I am not the only one. Just an awful system.
Cards cannot go by intent. Having a card from March does not prove what you "intend" to do with their card. I would just use another card if you don't like them. I think that's the issue with this thread it seems - people's "expectations" are not being met so therefore they're blaming the card.
Starting Score: 648
+1 My Cap1 card yah, it doesn't have a very big limit, but does it work every time I use it...Yes. Does it report to help my score grow, Yes. I have to agree that it should be probably reviewed for what it is, a rebuilder. And as for a rebuilder, it has worked great! Only an individual can place a time peroid of when the card should either be canceled or apply for a more Prime cap1 product. It all depends on the individual. But I have been very happy with mine so far and when the time comes I will cut it loose.
KingAdrock,
+1 Well said. I think people who give rebuttals to complaints like yours and mine are missing the point.
OF COURSE, Cap1 isn't obligated to give anyone credit. We know that.
OF COURSE, Cap1 isn't obligated to give anyone the CL the applicant/customer thinks he deserves. We know that.
OF COURSE, Cap1 isn't obligated to give anyone the same credit limits the other issuers give for prime cards.
OF COURSE, Cap1 isn't obligated to give anyone the benefit and courtesy of growing with the customer's rise in credit worthiness and income. We know that.
OF COURSE, Cap1 isn't obligated to give anyone better credit offers like the other issuers do. We know that.
OF COURSE, Cap1 isn't obligated to give anyone over to a real analyst for real assitance with recons and CLI's instead talking through dim-wit Peggy and snail mail
OF COURSE, Cap1 isn't obligated to give anyone treat prime applicants better than subprime. We know that.
and finally,
OF COURSE, Cap1 isn't obligated to MEET THE HIGHER EXPECTATIONS OF PRIME CUSTOMERS AND APPLICANTS. We know that.
But none of that is the point. Nor is it the point that we aren't obligated to deal with Cap1...especially if you are a prime applicant/customer.
But all that being said, the complaint is about dissatisfaction with a company that pushes away good business and sours existing relationships. As consumers criticizing companies, it's all worth noting. Companies provide goods and services for profit. Am I one of them. And I'll be damned if I see that I am losing or not retaining good customers because of silly and shortsighted policies that are pushing away exisitng and potential customers...especially customers looking to increase business with me.
Dealing with Subprime Applicants and card products has its ups and downs. But I get the strong impression that Cap1 allows its protocol with this risky demographic to spill over into its behavior with prime applicants. That's not good business. Meeting expectations or at least trying to, is an important part of any business. Any success Cap1 is having does make everything it does OK. Indeed Cap1 would do better if learned a new approach to the prime market.
Think of it like Scion, Toyota and Lexus. Different expectations and Toyota knows this. When the Scion customer comes into trade up to Toyota, he has expectations. If he's trading up to Lexus, he has even higher expectations. Same for the Toyota customer trading up for a Lexus. If Lexus customer has expectations that aren't going to be met because the dealer treats him like he's at a credit-challenged used car lot, he's leaving.
Like I said earlier, if I was a higher up at Cap1 reading all this, I'd find this to be an alarming problem and I'd want to revisit company policies.
That's what is so great about building credit. There are tons of companies out there that one can graduate to in order to obtain the perfect credit product for their needs. If Cap1 isn't working out then we have tons of other options that come more available as our credit grows. But I do understand "the point", I guess they just don't choose to do business like others, seems they would want to benefit from growing with customers. But who knows what their true agenda really is 
Trumpet-205 said:
Sorry to hear that. However different lender have different policy. Keep in mind for business credit card they have to run both your personal and your business credit reports.
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Well, my Dunn and Bradstreet score is excellent. The payment history shows the volume of purchases and the promptness of payments. My personal scores are in the upper 700s.
But here's the kicker under the "predictive indicators" on D&B:
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D&B Credit Limit Reccomendation:
Conservative credit Limit 25,000
Aggressive credit Limit:50,000
Risk category for this business: LOW
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By "LOW", D&B has me at 1 on a scale from 1-5. It just doesn't get any better. Trust me, no matter how you slice it....personal credit, business credit , income, payment history, business credit reccomendations from the top business credit firm.....Cap1 just looks silly with its $5000 credit line. I have invoices that are higher than that CL that I will have to continue to pay on Amex because I simply don't have the room on the Spark. And that half percent cash back difference is pretty considerable when we're talking thousands.
I was actually waiting for the Spark card to pay my +/- $6,000 insurance premium in full for the year. Woulda been $120 cash back. Instead that laughable CL forced me to put it on the Amex Plum for $90 cash back. Sure, it's just $30. But $30 here, $15 there, $25 over there....it adds up.
BrokaToe said:
But I do understand "the point", I guess they just don't choose to do business like others, seems they would want to benefit from growing with customers. But who knows what their true agenda really is
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There agenda is pretty simple: to make money and mitigate risk while doing it. That means balancing customer risk to drive down default rates while finding that sweet spot on the prime side to max profits relative to risk. Well, by turning off rebuilding customers that grow into prime customers, they weaken the pool of strong credit customers and lose customers to other companies that treat them better.