Hello all, I have a Cap1 Visa and a Cap 1 MC, both have a 0 balance. $2000 CL on the Visa, $3500 on the MC. The $65.00 annual fee will be due to the Visa in June, and the same fee for the MC will be due in August. I want Cap 1 to waive the fees for me. I have a perfect record with them since I opened both accounts in 2002. I don't use either one of these cards, they live in my dresser drawer with my Sears card. I will call Cap 1 tomorrow and ask them to waive the fees or I'll be closing both accounts. Has anyone here tried anything similar w/Cap 1 or have an idea how closing the accounts might impact my credit scores? My scores average to about 720. I have about $9,000.00 available credit now, with about 5% utilization. I have received offers from other CC's with better terms than Cap 1 (0% till August 2008, 7.5%, etc), but I'd rather not open new accounts if I don't have to. Any info is greatly appreciated... James
Most cc that charge annual fee's are cards that earn mileage or cash back or something. If you're not earning any extras for your purchases I'd ask why you're paying a fee when you call. Maybe ask them to switch you to a card with no annual fee or if they can't do that I'd shop around. Several other cc companies offer cards with no fee's such as Citi.
I hope this isn't too late but unless the annual fees are killing you, I would keep them open for a while. Right now, I would hold onto the accounts, and keep them open. My opinion is from the perspective of the "big picture". Your FICO scores are pretty good, and a major goal should be maintaining them, andtrying to increase them. Cap1 is usually not to good about "changing" accounts, you're sort of cast in stone with them. But, it is worth a try to request removal of annual fees. But to your situation, I would keep the accounts for these reasons: 1) Your overall age of accounts is still considered "new", keeping the accounts open will help the aging of your credit report, 2) for financial management reasons, do not close the accounts until you have another CC with at least a credit limit equal to the $5,500 of these two cards. Credit is a tool, of which a main purpose is for emergencies. Do not cut off your available credit until it is replaced. 3) Having the available credit will help your utilization on your credit reports, and maintaing your scores. If you do not have a "need" for credit for a while, then you may consider opening another CC account, but select the best terms for your situation. Apply for the card during a "no use" period of credit, so that the new account can "age" until you need to apply for credit. SO, I would try to request elimination of the annual fees, but I would not recommend closing the accounts.
You can also ask that they merge the two accounts into one (select the one that has the lowest interest rate, or better terms), so that there is only one Annual Fee.
This is a good idea! I would also ask to waive the annual fee since you are a good customer with a excellant payment history.I won't get into why Cap 1 will never be in my wallet on this post.
Thanks everyone for the help. I called Cap 1 today; they said it was too soon to try to waive any fees right now, the fees will post July 31 and August 31. I have it marked on my calendar to call in July. The rep didn't say yes to my request to waive the fees, but she didn't say no, either. She did mention that they like to see a good payment history and "use of the account" when they consider waiving fees. I haven't used either card lately. Thanks everyone for the advice. I may just keep the acoounts open and pay the fees if they won't waive them. I agree that they are helping my overall credit more than closing them out and opening new accounts. It won't kill me to pay the fees, I'd just rather not pay if they would be willing to waive the fees. I had no idea it was possible to merge 2 accounts into one. That's a great idea, and I'll try to look into it. Thanks again for all the help. James
I do know they only merge "like" accounts, i.e. Visa w/Visa, MC w/MC, platinum w/platinum, etc. I don't know why they do this, but it is their policy. But, stay on them, and keep trying, perhaps they can "upgrade" your accounts to a status with no annual fees.
Interesting, I know they've told others they couldn't, but that was a few years ago, perhaps they've changed their policies.
As far as combining the 2 accounts together, you can merge visa's and mastercards together (I think it depends on the financial institution if they will allow it) I asked discover to do this before and they said they don't do it.
merging policy the policy on "merging accounts" generally is that there must be matching financial responsibility on each. IE The same primary on both, or the same coapplicants on both, and you can't be the authorized user requesting if it isn't your card. V/MC doesn't matter only financial obligation does.
