Thank God for Capital One

Cap 1 is a good sub. Just paid it of & would love to have a prime with them. Dislikes are they pull every month.

 

Cap1 makes their products widely available, which can certainly be helpful for rebuilding.

On the flip side, their policy of steadfast refusal to report the CL (only reporting the high usage instead) can cause a huge hit to the credit scores of that same consumer who is trying to rebuild.

We use our unreported Cap1 Business cards almost daily.

Our personal Cap1 card sits idle in the sock drawer for the abovementioned reason. They'll never again make money from us while utilizing a practice which damages our scores. We simply will not allow it.

DemPooches

 

Have you considered charging up or close to the limit?

 

If your question was directed my way, no, I will not do that. I shouldn't have to reward Cap1 further with more merchant fees for them to report correctly.

We're definitely not above doing as you suggest. When we have to play the game a certain way, we do, and we generally don't gripe about it too much. But when we have choices, we speak with our wallet. And at this point we have choices.

That's all it is. If we needed the card for rebuilding, we might feel differently. But Cap1 came along when most of our reports were already clean, and their personal card has never been of any benefit to us, it has only been a hinderance.

The folks I really feel for are the ones who don't have a clue about how scoring works and are trying to dig themselves out. They're happy to get a low limit Cap1, never run it up to the limit, pay on time but not a lot extra, and think they are building their credit. Little do they know the harm this one account is actually doing to their scores and COULD be keeping their scores down enough to prevent them from getting other offers.

It's different when you know the impact and make a conscious choice to use it or not, to keep it open or not, knowing the tradeoffs. We who have discovered Creditnet are fortunate to be in the latter group.

DemPooches

 

I agree, because they where pulling soft one every month. That acct is closed.

 

Don't think it is a coincidence either Dem Pooches. Cap1 utilyzes several underhanded strategies to keep you in their clutches.

Their reporting is strategically designed to keep consumers sub-prime as long as possible because subprime = higher profits thru higher interest rates in CAP1's pockets. Further, the consumer won't have any other cards with which to transfer balances, because they won't qualify for other cards, thanks to Cap1's screwy reporting.

 

Yes....while cap one is good source of subprime credit - they are really inflexible once you begin to improve your credit. I got a mortgage, amex and citi and still capone wouldn't increase my $500 limit - despite no late payments and 6 yr old account.

And don't forget about their annual fees, and relentless telemarketing....

 

I have a Cap1 Platnum card with 14.9%. I have had it since January and my limit is $900.00. I called retention yesterday to request an increase. I explained that I use the card very frequently and that I pay it off in full each month. I usually pay $500 or more each month. Well, they state that they cannot increase my limit at this time. The rep blamed this on the current economy. They do an A/R every month and see that I don't have any other bank cards with a higher limit so that is why they are denying me. Also, I believe the fact that they aren't getting any interest from me is also negative in their eyes. I know that if I cancel the account, they will probably offer a better limit, but why should I have to go through all that?

 

Seems like they changed policies recently. I just asked Mr. Cooke for an increase and all I recieved was $300. He usually gives me 100% increase.
100% would have been $500 this time so it wasn't bad. I do have my small card limits near the limits so that may be it.

 

CapOne has generous CLI'S ........LOL

 

Can you answer a question for me? What is the policy regarding credit limit increases? CS refused to grant me a CLI, but Mr. Cooke got my limit up $500.00 back in September. I would like to get another increase and customer service told me I had to wait six months from Sept. to get it. The increase that I got was only 4 months after I got the card.

 

I just received my C1 card last week. After reading this thread I'm not sure I should use it.

Any advice?

 

Please allow me to boil down this thread a little bit and ask a couple of questions based on the posts herein.

1.) While Capital One does not report credit limits on the sub-prime cards, can I assume they report limits on the prime cards?

2.) While Capital One does not report credit limits on the sub-prime cards and reports high usage instead, if you have charged up to the limit, the high usage figure is used when calculating total credit for FICO scores? In other words, if I have a Capital One unsecured card with a credit limit of $1,000 and I have charged $1,000 on that card and it shows up on my credit report as my high usage, that number is used to calculate my total credit on my credit reports?

3.) Some of you have said that you don't like the fact that Capital One pulls a soft inquiry every month. I thought soft inquiries do not affect your credit scores. If that's so, what's the big deal if they do pull a soft inquiry every month?

Hawg Hanner

 

1) Capital one doesn't limits period, no matter what type of card you have from them.

2) We believe the high balance is figured in with your ratios, although I have never seen solid proof of it. It is irritating the only way to show your true limit is to max out your card

3) Yes AR's do not have a negative impact on your scores, however having them check EVERY month is down right annoying. I think like most banks, they are looking for something negative to show up, and doing this every single month to make sure everything is in line is in itself annoying. Maybe I wouldn;t have a problem IF the CRA's did report complete and UP TO DATE information, of course that will never happen.

 

As far as pulling an A/R every month, I believe Cap1 uses this to their advantage. I believe, and others as well, that Cap1 can see that you don't have other credit cards with higher limits so they can keep your limits low. They see you don't have anywhere else to go. I think if they saw that I had other cc's with higher limits, they might be more apt to give me the increase I have requested on a few occasions. This is speculation on my part and just my opinion.

 

Should I use my new Cap One subprime card? Or is uneffective in rebuilding credit?

 

MrAlan,

There is no reason not to use it. Just know how they are going to report and how it is going to affect your scores.

It is a positive tradeline, it is going to build a history for you. These are good things.

The most important thing is BE AWARE OF WHAT THEY DO. If you know their practices you are ahead of the game.

Now, if by "rebuilding your credit" you are hoping for this account to go from subprime to prime and to have a significant CL in the future, it is probably not going to happen.

http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&pgnum=3&postid=256842#post256842

(Look here for the comparison for someone with really strong scores.) But that doesn't mean the positive tradeline is worthless to you.

Hope this helps.

DemPooches

 

Is the trade off between postive trade lines vs the inquires C1 makes worth it?

 

MrAlan,

Once you HAVE the card, the inquiries they do are AR inquiries (soft.) These should have no impact on your scores.

Cap1 reviews reports to see if there is any change (such as lates to other accounts) that would make them have a reason to be concerned about getting their money. Some posters have indicated they don't care for this practice, but it doesn't hinder your ability to use this card to rebuild your credit.

If you've already got the card, you have nothing to lose. Use it responsibly, be aware of how their reporting will affect your scores and you should have no surprises.

DemPooches