Ok, after hearing horror stories about how Capital One is horrible and won't do anything for you, I decided to cancel all 3 cards I had. That's 3 cards, each with a $300 credit limit, a total of $120 in annual fees between the 3. I've had the old one for years, so I didn't want to cancel it and take the score hit, but I decided I would.
I had called before and asked if they could do anything to keep me from canceling, and they said no, but this time I didn't care and I really WAS going to cancel them all...but guess what they offered me...
1) Merging all 3 cards into ONE, for one card with a $900 credit limit.
2) One of the cards, the most recent one, was eligible for an annual fee waiver, so that would have a $0 annual fee, and they would merge all 3 cards into THAT one, so I wouldn't pay an annual fee.
3) After the indroductory period of 0% APR for said card is over, instead of a 14.9% APR, they would knock it down to 10.9%.
Now I know this might not be a big deal to you guys with $10,000 limits on your credit cards, but for a 21 year old with bad credit, having given up on Capital One already, this is great. So overall, this is what I got...
Went from 3 cards, $300 limit each, $59 annual fee, $29 annual fee, and $29 annual fee, with all APR's higher than 15% except for the newest one...
...to merging them all into ONE card, $900 credit limit, NO annual fee ever, and a 10.9% APR after the introductory period of 0% is over.
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glad it worked out for you OP, but 1 success story out of 10 horror stories is nothing to write home about. The sooner you ditch Cap One, the better off you'll be
I hate capital one. I am transferring to Discover as soon as possible. There customer service is rude, their web site sucks big time, and there cards have terrible policies WRT to everything.
I'd be careful re: the annual fee. They may have waived it for this year, but I'd verify that the waiver is for the life of the account before taking that assumption too far.
darkessenz21 said:I hate capital one. I am transferring to Discover as soon as possible. There customer service is rude, their web site sucks big time, and there cards have terrible policies WRT to everything.
going from capital one to discover is like going from Awful to downright sleeze. I have capital one. They are rude and its the last card that I have that I'd use, which is usually only for cash advances no cash advance fees and 9.9% apr usually for a couple of days only.
With discover, good luck if you ever have an issue with a merchant, They were deceptive, lied to me on the phone several times, and refused to reverse a charge, that should have been reversed for non delivery of service. Luckily I charged most of the charge to a GM Mastercard which promptly reversed the charge. Was only out a small amount, but then I promptly closed my discover card and will never use them again
mbaker4096 said:I'd be careful re: the annual fee. They may have waived it for this year, but I'd verify that the waiver is for the life of the account before taking that assumption too far.
ALWAYS GET IT IN WRITING!!! IMO, I highly doubt they will send you a confirmation letter that your annual fee has been waived for life. I find it believable that the CSR's will TELL you this to keep you around. Sorry if I sound negative... but I would definetly look into getting other cards (maybe you can get student cards, or go the "department store card > wait a few months while paying off bills on time > apply for new card" route, or maybe even considered a secured card).
yeah, I figured we'd get a snob or two in here. get over yourself, not everyone is a "millionaire" like you...
...and yeah, I told them if it'd be a one-time waiver of annual fees, or for the lifetime of the account, two different people on two different calls verified its for the lifetime of the account, but I'll verify it again...
Merging the cards and picking the one with no annual fee and the lowest APR was a good move. Now, focus on getting better cards and don't be in a rush to cancel the CrapitalOne card since it isn't costing you anything. Cancelling it will hurt your credit score until you build up another account that you've had for a few years.
If they try to impose an annual fee again, then cancel it.
I am no fan of Cap1, but I am glad things worked out for you. However, next year watch out as they might have only waived the annual fee this year and not next. So long as there are no fees associated with carrying your Cap1 card, it is OK until you've built up a strong enough credit file to move on to better issuers.
My husband has a Cap One card like you have (very low limit, annual/monthly fee). Basically it was something to help establish good credit history since his was a mess. He just recently got a USAA Platinum with a $10,000 limit, so the hard work and diligence has been paying off in many ways.
But anyways, we called to get the fee waived and they said they could only waive it for a year. After a year was up, we would have to call back and try to get it waived again. Now if this was a new card, we would cancel it. But right now it's his oldest revolving account. So we'll see what happens when the year is up. Just be sure to keep an eye on it. We are still charged the fee but it is deducted on every statement.
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