In the last week, I have been awarded prime cards from Fleet and NextCard. So I decided to close my Capital One account. Today I received my monthly bill, right on schedule, and it had my annual fee ($59) on it. I called to close the account and they had me speak to some guy in retention. I told him of my new cards and he said that those cards have hidden fees for extra services like replacing a card or doing a balance transfer and that is why they charge no annual fee. He said Capital One charges the annual fee to cover all those fees. He said he had a Chase card and the hidden fees were $150 a year. My bullshit detector was going off and I laughed to myself. I did not ask for the annual fee to be cancelled. I did not ask for any special favors. He volunteered that they would increase my credit limit by $500 today and cut the annual fee in half and that my account was due a big review in August. He said my account was in sterling condition and he said that after August, I should be getting a big credit limit increase like $1000 at a time. (Yeah, sure!). He said that after you have proven yourself to Capital One with several years of excellent payment history, then they consider you for their other better cards and higher limits. He said that they would no longer have the $100 increases, but more like $1000 at a time. My credit limit had just been increased $100 just a month before I called today.I had received a letter saying they could not increase my limit for another 6 months. So, it was $400 when I called. I decided to take his offer since Capital One is my oldest account (since 1999 or was it 1998?) He said he did not have the authority to completely cancel my annual fee, the best he could do was $500 increase and reduce the fee by half.
JB, I think you had better to close your accounts because you paid too much for Cap 1 annual fees. You can close your account since you got Fleet and NextCard. I keep my Kmart Mastercard around since the card doesn't have annual fees.
WOW, that's pretty good for Cap 1! Good going! The tried that line of "hidden fees" and mysterious bad things when I called them and told them of my other, better offers--when I asked specifics regarding Citi, they quickly assured me that Citi wasn't one of the baddies Amazing huh? Congrats on your increase!
bleh the annual fee is a small price to pay for an "old" tradeline. I'd keep it for just that reason. Keep calling back every 3 months asking for more. If its not your oldest, then close the bugger.
I think you did the best thing by keeping the card. Since CapOne represents your oldest tradeline, continuing to have it open on your reports is a good thing. It will help your score. CapOne drives me nuts, too but I'm in a situation similar to yours. My CapOne Visa, now turned gold, is my oldest tradeline. I've had the account since 96 and continue to maintain it because of the positive effect it has on my score. Congrats on the Fleet and Nextcard. Good work. Donna
Hi, I'm new so I don't know if I will get a response. I would just like to say that reading this board has been very informative and helpful, as I have experienced the same. As for Cap 1, I sent a letter via Planetfeedback.com and got a response to contact their consumer advocate the next day. I complained about them not being able to give me an increase and lower my apr(I had to choose one or the other, as per their rep). Well after writing this letter, I got a lower apr, and a $500.00 increase, much better than their measly $100.00 increases every 6 months. Maybe they are improving their services.
JB, if I were you I would not close the Cap 1 account. Fleet, like First USA, is a bottom-of-the-barrel company. Once you experience Fleet, you'd learn to appreciate Capital One. Doris K was right to assert that Fleet/FUSA require prime credit for their sub-prime products. Saar
