I have Cap1 and Citi and the CLs have been stuck for a while. I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion to raising lines with them. I was thinking of perhaps taking out cash advances and paying it back, using the same cash, to show usage - perhaps 20% or so. This way I can avoid a hard inq and avoid paying interest if I pay during the grace period. Right now they are both sock drawered because of high APR with no balance. I am trying to avoid losing points with a hard inq.
One reason I closed my Cap.1 account was the low limit and stinginess about increases. So I have no suggestion about Capital One other than dump the card unless there's some other good reason to keep it. Citibank is better. You can start by checking Citi's website to see if you qualify for an increase or call up and request one but make sure you tell them you don't want a hard. Generating account activity is key to CL increases but using cash advances to do it is not a good idea. For one thing, they are expensive because of the transaction fee (2.5-5%of the advance), the lack of grace period and the 19.99 or higher rate. The other reason not to do it is that it doesn't work. Excessive cash advances actually hurt your standing with the CC companies because they tend to view people who take too many of them as not being in control of their finances. If you want to generate account activity, do it through purchases and balance transfers. Charge everything you normally buy with cash or debit cards. Put recurirng monthly expenses on a card to the extent you can, such as phone, utilities, online servers, cell phones, etc. as long as you can avoid paying convenience fees. Apart from making sure you pay on time and stay within the limit, you can do some other things that help. Make large payments, never just the minimum. Carry a small balance once in a while. Other times, pay off in full. Let the card sit with a zero balance for a month or two while using a different card and then start charging on the first card again. These things signal the CC company that you are not credit hungry and you can manage a higher line. If they think you really need the money, you won't get it. Having higher lines will help your score tremendously as long as you aren't using the additional credit. When it's time to go for a big ticket item such as a car or real estate, you will save alot of money.
WIth capital one, you can pfb. Cap One will contact you via phone, etc. Also, here's a retention dept # for crap one 800-889-9939. Caution, do be suprised if you get a max cr limit increase of 500, but usually 100 dollars. They are extremely CONSERVATIVE!! Also, if you have gone overlimit, missed payment, etc you will not receive an increase. Sometimes they will pull a hard inquiry on one/more cr. reports or a soft, just depends. One more point, once you do an increase request whether denied or approved you must wait 6-12 months (depending on type of acct) for another increase request. Hope this info helps.
Taking cash advances is a sure fire way to guarantee that you'll be denied a CLI @Cap 1 or getting a very small one. Also, Citi will pull a hard inquiry for any CLI increase request done on their website.
F.Y.I.~~combining 2 account into one...IS A LIMIT INCREASE!!! STUPIDITY!!! Card #1 $6,000 Card #2 $3,000 Close card # 2 and make card #1 $9,000...WHERE IS THE LIMIT INCREASE??? $9,000 BEFORE...$9,000 AFTER!!!
