Hi Donna, Thank you for your kind words. It seems that you are on the right track and have had some successes of your own. If I were you, I would write the Consumer Advocate again, 6 months after his last increase/credited fee, and ask for a $1000 increase. You'll get it. I wrote twice and called out of the blue twice (after my initial letters via PFB). He seemed a bit unsettled that I called, but the worst that he could say was "no" and I'm not afraid of that anymore. To my benefit, he said "yes" on the last call, but kept telling me not to ask again for another 6 months. I said fine; I just wanted to get the Platinum card, and now my mission was accomplished. I don't know what to tell you; it is more professional to write first, though I do admit to jumping the gun and calling without writing. Each time I called without writing I had a darn good reason for doing so, and made sure he understood that. He was still miffed, but I got what I wanted both times. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Thanks Shawn! I've learned invaluable information from this board as well. Though keeping my balance close to the limit made me very profitable to Cap One - I now have a new mindset, to get out of debt as soon as possible. There are other things I want to do with my life now, other than paying bills each month. Blame it on too much time spent at Motley Fool ... But Creditwork is right. Sending that balance up and paying it down fast really works for increased credit lines and benefits. Your plan is smart re moving high balances around, though some cards get wise to that kind of "artificial purchase". That's why I like Citi's alternative to BT in sending the check directly to me for deposit. If I pay off a balance from my bank account rather than directly from another issuer, the paid off card has no idea how I did it, and just thinks I'm rich. Thanks again for your posts, both of you. And best wishes in your credit journeys!
Marci, When you were upgraded to gold, did u still keep your old account number? Did it continue reporting as being open from the time your classic card was? Thanks, -Roman
If you're looking to build or re-build your credit, Cap One is one of the best companies. They're generally fair with their customers and I've never seen them pull the "we're-charging-you-a-bogus-fee-because-we-want-to-and-we-can" crud that some other sub-prime companies do. Yes, they are conservative with increases. They seem to be loosening up some, but don't expect to see large increases.
No, for each upgrade the account number changed. Yes, for each upgrade, the credit report retained the history of the account and the date that the original account was opened. Cap One is good about that, if only to make up for not reporting limits.
