Asking for a friend - Capital One

[greeneyedlady]

I've gotten so much good information from you myficoers, let me just say thank you all so much for all of the posts here, as well as the replies to my personal questions. Such a great site!

My question today really is for a friend who began rebuilding his credit, but without any real knowledge about how to go about doing so. He has obtained 4 Capital 1 cards, a SunTrust, and a CreditOne.  CLs are 1100, 2250, 2000, and 1700 on Cap 1, ST is 2800, and CreditOne is 550 and they are basically maxxed out, so total CC debt is about 10,400.  He also has a personal loan for 3800 that is only a couple of months old.


His FICOs are now under 600, with ST provided EQ (I think a Bankcard 8) at 588. He has about 3000 cash to throw at some of the debt and is needing advice about Capital 1 credit limit increases.  Would he be more likely to get larger increases (or ANY increases) if he uses it to pay off or almost off 2 of the cards or should he put a little bit towards each of them. Also, do they do automatic CLI or will they pull the CR? Who do they pull from? He is planning to get a part-time job to assist in his endeavor, but wanting to improve his score in the short-term and while the debt is relatively low, and perhaps be able to do something about the high interest rates on the rest of it within about 6 months.  Speaking of which, wondering when or if he might be able to get a 0% balance transfer and from which company it might be best to apply? What do you guys think is a good strategy to tackle this before it gets any more out of hand?  

BTW, he has a decent income in the high 5-figure range, but also has some debt that is "off the books," so to speak. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice!

[Anonymous]

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@greeneyedlady wrote:
I've gotten so much good information from you myficoers, let me just say thank you all so much for all of the posts here, as well as the replies to my personal questions. Such a great site!

My question today really is for a friend who began rebuilding his credit, but without any real knowledge about how to go about doing so. He has obtained 4 Capital 1 cards, a SunTrust, and a CreditOne.  CLs are 1100, 2250, 2000, and 1700 on Cap 1, ST is 2800, and CreditOne is 550 and they are basically maxxed out, so total CC debt is about 10,400.  He also has a personal loan for 3800 that is only a couple of months old.


His FICOs are now under 600, with ST provided EQ (I think a Bankcard 8) at 588. He has about 3000 cash to throw at some of the debt and is needing advice about Capital 1 credit limit increases.  Would he be more likely to get larger increases (or ANY increases) if he uses it to pay off or almost off 2 of the cards or should he put a little bit towards each of them. Also, do they do automatic CLI or will they pull the CR? Who do they pull from? He is planning to get a part-time job to assist in his endeavor, but wanting to improve his score in the short-term and while the debt is relatively low, and perhaps be able to do something about the high interest rates on the rest of it within about 6 months.  Speaking of which, wondering when or if he might be able to get a 0% balance transfer and from which company it might be best to apply? What do you guys think is a good strategy to tackle this before it gets any more out of hand?  

BTW, he has a decent income in the high 5-figure range, but also has some debt that is "off the books," so to speak. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice!

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There is no guarantee that Capital One will give him an increase either way.  He would have a better chance if the cards were less utilized IMO.  Since C1 pulls all 3 bureaus for a credit application, it is my assumption that they would soft pull all 3 bureaus for a CLI request.  Don't wait for an auto CLI, you could be dead before you get one.  My scores are in my signature and I haven't received one in close to 15 years from Capital One.  I probably don't use enough of my credit limit to warrant an auto CLI though.  Your results may vary.

Balance transfer cards are a great idea but I believe your friend will have some problems.  The scores are low and getting approved with maxed out UTI is going to be a problem regardless of his income.  Even if your friend had better scores and lower UTI, many people find that when they apply for a balance transfer card, the starting credit line is way too low for what they want to transfer.  You must consider that your friend has very low limits compared to their salary.  His average credit line is only $1700 so the chances of being approved for a decent credit line aren't very good at all.

My advice to your friend would be to work on the current utilization issues.  It shouldn't be a problem with a high 5 figure salary.  Since you said he is rebuilding, I don't feel the rebuilding is going well since all of the cards are maxed.  I feel they want to get an increase in credit limits in order to lower utilization, therefore raising scores, in order to apply for more credit that will most likely be maxed soon as well.  Your friend needs to change their approach to credit.  Paying down the current UTI is the only surefire way I see.  I wouldn't waste my time and lower my scores any further by adding inquiries and potentially more debt.

[greeneyedlady]

Thanks for the reply, Overmedicated! You are right that he needs to approach credit differently. I think he may realize that now and has good intentions to try to change his behavior, but you know what they say about the road to hell being paved with good intentions 😇👹

Hopefully he will follow through with getting a part-time job, especially with having the additional debt not showing on his CRs, and if he is able to clean up the reports then use the better score to improve interest rates and not to dig a deeper hole. I have told him that the only way out that I see is more income, not more debt.