Capital One users...a success story!

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.

Capital One is great, forget what you've heard.

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

sorry, I do not think this is a successful story...

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

How do you get a CC with a $300 limit and a $59 annual fee?

That's ridonkulous.

^^^

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...

Papi,

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.

cmatthes1 said: Wow $900 credit limit.. and you don't have to pay $120 in fees.. That is amazing...

Now you can FINALLY fill up your gas tank without haveing to put it on 2 cards!!

Excellent!

that is such a rude comment. He knows its not much to most people, but to OP it's a lot. sheesh.


Congrats on your victory, remember its not the size of your credit , it's the principle of things that matter.

Congrats OP! Sorry that some people are so rude...

all4mymarine said: 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.

USA Platinum?!?!

Isn't that the credit card where you can ONLY buy stuff from their catalog?

Congradulations OP!

OP - having had bad credit at that age, I can say you did yourself good.

Others here are posting from experiences you will have in the future, such as stated income & longer credit histories from which to negotiate.

Congrats!

I don't understand this whole bad-credit-thing. How does one get it? When I was in college, I applied for a AMEX card. I got it. It didn't have an annual fee or anything.

How does someone start with worse credit than that? Did you originally have some normal credit cards but couldn't pay them off or something?

maybe a little OT but I got a CC from cap one with a fixed 4.9% APR for life on the card. I got it about 2 years ago. That includes BT and purchases. I don't think I have seen anything like it since. And they have not tried to renege on this offer. Anyone else have this card?

Remember if you want to get your score up as much as possible, pay off the credit card before you get the bill!!

It only works if your going to go buy a car or something.. But do it a few months before that

Then you show 0 balance on your cards!

Your story is inspirational but I am still bitter about what capital one did to me. $25 over-credit fee for $1.27 of over-credit. AMEX always waive the over-credit fee for me. (Not that I do it often)

Capital One ROCKS! They just approved me for a $5K limit card with 0% for 6 months and $0 annual fee!!!!!!!!!!!

PapiShasho said: cherrycarbs said: Capital One ROCKS! They just approved me for a $5K limit card with 0% for 6 months and $0 annual fee!!!!!!!!!!!

what are your credit scores?


It was around 680. Why?

Why are u guy so hate CapitolOne + has to pay fee? I have just called to activate my first CapitolOne card. They have been mailing me credit card offers for year, and I finally took it, as they offer me $100 gift card up front, and 25 points for every purchase, no matter how small the purchase is. Oh yeah, and they gave me 10K limit, 5K cash advance limit.

PapiShasho said: cmatthes1 said:

as far as capital one reporting limits, the guy said it wouldn't change anything, and my past record wouldn't be affected, but I know they're full of it sometimes, so in case they only report my highest balance as my limit, is it possible to just make like a $900 purchase and then return it? would the $900 balance be reported to the credit bureaus?

YEs, but here is the kicker do it 4-5 days before your statement closes ( i.e. due date ) this is the time that many CC (including C1) report to the CRB. But I have done this or used a no fee Convience check, I take a small ding to my score but 2 months later it is higher, I too have a success story but will post when I have more time. the reason for the ding is it looks like you are maxed ( even if you are ) but when you return then you are using little of your avail credit.