An Apology to Capital One

[PotO]

Like a few others, I've always referred to Capital One as CrapOne. Not, mind you, because they've ever done anything terrible to me, but more because of what I have seen them do with others. Those with Cap One cards that have a ten year history at a $300 limit should understand.

 

I've also not been too kind with HSBC USA or Orchard Bank. Many years ago on a day that I probably forgot to take my meds, I tried the OB pre-approval tool and ended up with an OB card. I guess I was lucky in that there was no AF and the APR was under 9%, but the CL was only $300 and on that is was stuck forever. And ever.

 

A while ago I decided to close the card as not only was a $300 limit pretty much embarrassing as well as useless, but also I had no expectations of Cap One treating the account any better once they took over. I called, closed the account and felt pretty good about it. I sent an e-mail after that telling them that they might want to start looking at their cardholders individually instead of as a giant group of misfits if they ever wanted to gain the same respect that HSBC has outside of the US. I did not ask or otherwise indicate that I wanted my account back.

 

About two days later I was surprised by a call from the Cap One Executive Resolutions Unit. The guy was extremely nice and said he understood my concerns and they were seriously looking at handling accounts on a case-by-case basis instead if lumping them into unmodifiable groups. Meanwhile, he asked, what would it take for me to accept an account reopening. I told him that I had too many accounts as it was so for the moment reopening the account was not something that appealed to me. He asked about rewards, but I mentioned that rewards didn't interest me and with a $300 limit the rewards would need to be at least 50% to make it meaningful. We both chuckled over that and it was suggested that they could raise the CL.

 

I admired the guy's attitude, tenacity and desire to go the extra mile so I figured I'd end things on a positive note and let him reopen the account. When he stated they'd probably have to place an inquiry on my credit report, I started thinking lucidly again and started to object, but thought I'd try being kind and magnanimous for a change and said ok.

 

A few days later I get a call that my account was reopened. Although I kept thinking of a $100 CLI costing me a hard inquiry, I struggled to remain gracious.

 

Then about two days after that they call and said they got an approval on raising my limit to $10k. Holy sheet!

 

I'll try never to refer to Cap One was anything other than Cap One again. Ever. I adore them!

 

After I get my new Cap One card this summer I will PC to Venture or something.

[buyrightfirst]

[phoenixisrising]

Now that cli's been super sized, Congrats!!

[PotO]

I just don't get why people have to go to EO for solutions. I mean, I know the squeaky wheel gets the grease and all, but why couldn't they do these things the easy way without having people getting pissed off to begin with?

[ArchonInitiative]

I just don't get why people have to go to EO for solutions. I mean, I know the squeaky wheel gets the grease and all, but why couldn't they do these things the easy way without having people getting pissed off to begin with?

 

When I spoke with a person in the EO, I tried to get that out of them, but the front-line people are simply told what to do; they weren't in on the countless meetings that took place when they argued about changing this.

 

One advantage is that only the truly pissed off will make the effort to contact them, and it saves their resources.

[MonkeyBelly]

Congratulations - that's a righteous CLI!

It does seem like Capital One has a shadow client service organization. One that deals with the masses, and one that's scaling up (from everything I've read here and elsewhere, it really seems like they are expanding the EO) with more credit-savvy consumers. I wonder if the EO shadow customer service group is a test of a different corporate strategy.

[moosetracks]

Excellent work

[inthematrix]

Congratulations!! Can I ask what kind of score got you that limit?

[Clydesmom]

I too have been surprised to see people referring to them as Crap1 and other derogatory names. I got a secured card from them over a year ago and after 6 months of steady good payments they voluntarily increased by credit limit without my ever asking. Okay, it was only a $100 on a $300 card but one third when you have no credit to start with is a lot!

 

I have recently been working on the negative entries on all 3 of my CRs and improved my scores. I applied for an unsecured cap1 card and got a $1500 limit. Did they offer me thousands? No but since approval and getting the card a month ago I keep it paid as well and overall utilization under 20% on all credit lines. In a few months now that a few more baddies have dropped off I will ask for a CLI and I anticipate receiving it with no problems.

 

I suspect that those who have too many bad things to say are like anyone who has had a bad experience with a creditor: they are forever demonized. The problem is there are quite a few consumers who create their own problems and then want to blame others.

[cv91915]

I was very disappointed with EO even after my scores were in the mid 7s and my income grew to $xxx,xxx. They wouldn't add rewards or waive the annual fee... They'd only bump my limit up from the second lowest of all of my cards BY FAR to TIED for second lowest.

 

BIG CONGRATS to you, however! Well played!

Edited April 29, 2013 by cv91915

[winner]

Congratulations!

I wish I could say the same, I had a secured OB card with 350 limit they unsecured couple of months ago.. I emailed EO over the weekend, requesting CLI, PC to VentureOne card and a permanent waiver of the AF.

 

Got a call today, even after a Hard pull .. the AF was only waived for this year, PC request denied (he said they do not PC those low end Orchard cards) and CLI only increased to 5000 (he said that's the max those card go to) .. Just going to cancel the card and move on.

[PotO]

Congratulations!! Can I ask what kind of score got you that limit?

EQ FICO is 744 as of 2 months ago. Could be higher now since many inquiries have past the 1-year mark. Also now I let a 3% utilization report and the score from 2 months ago showed no utilization at all. I doubt that currently it could be over 760 at the very most.

[PotO]

Congratulations - that's a righteous CLI!

It does seem like Capital One has a shadow client service organization. One that deals with the masses, and one that's scaling up (from everything I've read here and elsewhere, it really seems like they are expanding the EO) with more credit-savvy consumers. I wonder if the EO shadow customer service group is a test of a different corporate strategy.

This morning I called and spoke with the guy again. I already knew the results from an e-mail notification and a call from some other woman, but he sent me an e-mail asking that I call to receive the results of my request. So, I figured I'd let him to his job and I called.

 

We had a nice conversation and I asked several questions about whether or not Cap One will treat OB cards as poor step-children when the systems finally merge. He stated they definitely will not. In meetings it has been made clear to them by Cap One that OB cards are to be treated as any other Cap One cards and cardholders are to be handled on an individual basis. The problem was before that HSBC mismanaged their portfolio with the (IMO purple) philosophy that all OB cardholders had bad credit and therefore all were to be treated like dirt. Those days are over, but it can take time for that to filter down to all account managers. It will be easier when all data is merged directly into Cap One systems.

 

I asked about PC to a different Cap One product after the systems merger and was told to call back when I get my new Cap One card and he'll do everything possible to make it happen.

 

I do think, however, that there is -- and always will be -- a part to this that favors the squeaky wheel theory.

 

Anyhow, I am impressed.

[PotO]

Congratulations!

I wish I could say the same, I had a secured OB card with 350 limit they unsecured couple of months ago.. I emailed EO over the weekend, requesting CLI, PC to VentureOne card and a permanent waiver of the AF.

 

Got a call today, even after a Hard pull .. the AF was only waived for this year, PC request denied (he said they do not PC those low end Orchard cards) and CLI only increased to 5000 (he said that's the max those card go to) .. Just going to cancel the card and move on.

I would think that $5k isn't too shabby on what was just a few months ago a secured card.

 

My understanding is that they cannot PC an OB card until after system integration later this year. Why not wait out the transition and try again?

[PotO]

I too have been surprised to see people referring to them as Crap1 and other derogatory names. I got a secured card from them over a year ago and after 6 months of steady good payments they voluntarily increased by credit limit without my ever asking. Okay, it was only a $100 on a $300 card but one third when you have no credit to start with is a lot!

 

I have recently been working on the negative entries on all 3 of my CRs and improved my scores. I applied for an unsecured cap1 card and got a $1500 limit. Did they offer me thousands? No but since approval and getting the card a month ago I keep it paid as well and overall utilization under 20% on all credit lines. In a few months now that a few more baddies have dropped off I will ask for a CLI and I anticipate receiving it with no problems.

 

I suspect that those who have too many bad things to say are like anyone who has had a bad experience with a creditor: they are forever demonized. The problem is there are quite a few consumers who create their own problems and then want to blame others.

I think part of the moniker was that it, unfortunately, sounded like a cute play on words. Another part was that in the somewhat distant past Cap One did have a deserved reputation for being evil, manipulative b'tards. There was an interview long ago on 60 Minutes with the founder of Cap One and he came off as pure evil.

 

There are a lot of people who have found Cap One inflexible. Without knowing their detailed story, it's only armchair quarterbacking trying to guess who is right. I do know one situation though and can say that Cap One was an evil player in the picture. Very evil.

 

My impression now is that maybe Cap One is trying harder. Maybe they are not evil through and through and there are just isolated instances of evil employees -- the same in any organization. It's just that Cap One is bigger than most.

 

Right now I'm pretty impressed. If they never raise my limit again I'll still be content. If after the merger I can PC to Venture or something, I'll probably love them as much as I do USAA.

[LadyD]

My husband canceled his Cap 1 and I was considering the same because we've been stuck at the same low limit for 5+ years. I would really like to give this a shot first though.

 

Can you please PM me with the contact info you used?

[PotO]

My husband canceled his Cap 1 and I was considering the same because we've been stuck at the same low limit for 5+ years. I would really like to give this a shot first though.

 

Can you please PM me with the contact info you used?

I'll post a contact name and number when I get home tomorrow. Is it a Cap One card or Orchard Bank?

[SunshineGrrrl]

Capital One has done pretty right by me so far. I've not seen much in the way of movement on my credit cards with them but when I missed a payment(purely accidentally) in the 30 day area and called the executive offices and let them know I was buying a house, they made sure to work it for me. And that helped a whole lot. I'm thankful to them for that. My old HSBC card that I canceled a year back never got a response. The annual fee was killing me and I just didn't want to deal with it anymore. They wouldn't take the fee off at all and so I closed it. Maybe I should have waited. Otherwise, Cap1 has been more or less excellent from a customer service perspective.

[LadyD]

I'll be contacting them about a Cap1 and HSBC card.

[foolsgold83]

I actually contacted Cap1 earlier today for a CLI- denied. Then I contacted Citi and USAA for CLI and was drastically increased. Citi didn't even do a hard pull.

 

I have a ave. score of 750 and no real debt. I must be blacklisted or something. The only thing I can attribute it to was that I disputed with them a little over a year ago over an account that wasn't mine. I had a Cap1 account at the time, but somehow another Cap1 account with multiple negatives was on my report as well. I just left the military and had never checked my credit report because, aside from not knowing better, I never used credit. The only reason I had the Cap1 card that was actually mine was to pay for hotels when I would go home to visit. So I obviously disputed, they could show no proof it was mine (because it legitimately wasn't), and had to remove the entire trade line.

 

Maybe this is their way of getting back, who knows. Maybe I should write the EO, but probably won't waste my time. I don't have any real need for higher limits, and just did it for the hell of it. I'd rather just not give them any of my money.

[PotO]

I actually contacted Cap1 earlier today for a CLI- denied. Then I contacted Citi and USAA for CLI and was drastically increased. Citi didn't even do a hard pull.

 

I have a ave. score of 750 and no real debt. I must be blacklisted or something. The only thing I can attribute it to was that I disputed with them a little over a year ago over an account that wasn't mine. I had a Cap1 account at the time, but somehow another Cap1 account with multiple negatives was on my report as well. I just left the military and had never checked my credit report because, aside from not knowing better, I never used credit. The only reason I had the Cap1 card that was actually mine was to pay for hotels when I would go home to visit. So I obviously disputed, they could show no proof it was mine (because it legitimately wasn't), and had to remove the entire trade line.

 

Maybe this is their way of getting back, who knows. Maybe I should write the EO, but probably won't waste my time. I don't have any real need for higher limits, and just did it for the hell of it. I'd rather just not give them any of my money.

Somewhat similar situation. Cap One most certainly does blacklist. If you are already a customer and they dig stuff up on you afterwards, they do hold that against you. I'd go for the executive office route. I can send you a PM with the contact data of a person in the Cap One EO who can handle the issue for you.

[PotO]

My husband canceled his Cap 1 and I was considering the same because we've been stuck at the same low limit for 5+ years. I would really like to give this a shot first though.

 

Can you please PM me with the contact info you used?

I am truly sorry for the delay. I PM'd you the contact data.

[snark]

Sorry, they will always be Crap One to me.

YMMV.

Although they treated me like dirt, it has been noted that some have had good experiences with them.

Once again, it varies.....

[PotO]

Sorry, they will always be Crap One to me.

YMMV.

Although they treated me like dirt, it has been noted that some have had good experiences with them.

Once again, it varies.....

Have you tried their EO for resolution?

[Cactus Flower]

Congrats !!

 

I got a letter (finally!) from Cap1 stating that my Orchard would become a Visa Platinum.

 

No mention of a CLI, but mine is at 4200 at present.

They haven't mentioned ANYTHING about rewards though - and Orchard always gave me 2% cash back.

 

I'll likely keep it because it will still be a "no foreign transaction fee" account and I need one of those; my Discover cards are like that, but unfortunately a lot of overseas merchants don't take Discover.