I have a CapOne card and like so many others it is a real pain to get a CLI. I recently started to actually use the card (been idle in my wallet for years) since they upped my rewards to 3 points per dollar. I'd like to use it for a $5k flooring purchase since that will net me a $150 gift card from the rewards. The problem is that my CL is only $4500.

I've called a few different C1 numbers and they all said no to a CLI. Like others, this is about my lowest limit, but they don't seem to care. If I had asked a few months ago when I got the 3-1 promo I might have had better luck.

My question is if I were to make a BT from this card to put the balance to negative $500 or so, would they allow me to make a purchase of $5k? Or does the $4500 limit kick in automatically on each purchase?

Thanks,
Greg

If you were to put 500 (in this case I would suggest you put in more to keep utilization to <90% after the purchase) then yes, you *should* be able to make the purchase. Also, there is no reason you can't call and ask them.

Also, could you make a down payment on your purchase, pay the card down, then pay the balance?

renaud said:

Thanks for the suggestion about going more negative though to keep utilization down. I'll probably BT $1k over so I'd be using 90% of my "available" $5500. I would also pay it off before the statment date to hopefully avoid any other problems.

Well, you probably only need to do one or the other. If you are going to payoff the purchase in the same billing cycle, then you really don't have to worry about utilization since it won't report.

Also, if you are going to BT to the card, you should factor any fees associated with the BT into your savings calculation.

I still have a 0% no fee BT offer on my Citi Drivers Edge card that I can use, so there will be no extra fee. Basically I plan to BT $1k onto my Citi card, then charge $5k to my C1 card. As soon as it posts I will pay off the net $4k on C1 card.

Anybody actually done this with C1? I assume it will work without a problem but would hate to get hit with an over the limit fee.

Thanks,
Greg

This might be hard to do, since it is just one item I am purchasing a large quanitity of. I need to purchase about 820 sq ft of flooring at $5.99/sq ft. I want to order it in one lump so I ensure I get it all from the same stain lot.

I am going to call and attempt a CLI later today so hopefully I don't even need to try this. Otherwise I hope the fact the this will all happen between statement closings will avoid any problems with C1.

Not hard for the retailer to do at all...to put some on 1 cc and the rest on another...

usually you can't change more than CL
Can you make two purchases on-line?

renaud said:I just called the "magic" C1 number and got a small CLI from $4500 to $4800. So close to being enough.I swear, everything I read about cap1 here, they must be braindead.

I assume you told them you needed to get to $5k, right?

Capital One is REALLY stingy about giving CLIs. And when they do give them, they are small. They are also very unlikely to ever give a CLI that breaks certain credit line barriers, for example $10k.

Look in their COMET fund prospectus and you can read about how they analyze their cardholders (consisting of a group funded by a COMET fund) by FICO and by credit line size, age since account opening, etc. It is a lengthy document but worth a read if you are a Cap One user. The COMET disclose says they will consider credit line increases and decreases, but in reality you rare hear about decreases, and increases are usually small potatoes.

Best way to get a large credit line with Cap One IMO, is to get your credit profile in tip-top shape, if at all possible with another issuer reporting a large credit line, and then apply for one of their pre-approved offers. Look for language in the pre-approved offer that states "CL up to 20k" or "CL up to 30k". If your credit profile is good (no recent inquiries or new accounts seems important to them) they'll give you the max line disclosed in the offer. Using this technique I got their "biggest" $30k CL for my first card with them. My wife has had one of their cards for years but despite asking repeated, hasn't been budged from $10k.

I know this general advice might not help your situation as it's more long term strategy with them. Maybe you will find some opportunity to apply it in the future.

renaud said:Yes, I did tell them I wanted to make a purchase of $5k. I asked for just a small bump of a few hundred more and the guy said there was nothing he could do.

My credit scores are good at about 760-770 and I do have several cards with $10k+ lines already. I think CapOne is just extrememly picky about credit lines. I might try to bush a BT that puts me at -$500 balance and see what my "available credit" shows up as online. If it still shows $4800 I may just have to make two online orders.

Another thought is to just suck it up and pay the overlimit fee. I try to avoid them so I don't know how much they would be. I thought they were only $39 or so. But I'm sure if you called CapOne and asked them they could tell you what the overlimit fee would be and whether it would apply in your circumstances. You might also ask them to waive the overlimit fee if they charge you one.

I also think it would be easier to just pay $1k in advance from whatever stash you're using to pay off the $5k purchase with to your CapOne CC and then do the purchase. That would save you the BT fee. If you don't have $5k sitting around to pay for this yet, then I'd be a little worried that you'd be spending money you don't have to save money in the long run, which sometimes doesn't work out too well.

Good luck,

2Cor521