Capital One & Aqua queries.

jaymeskenin

Hi all,

I have a Capital One card - limit is £1,200, 34.9% APR.
Current balance is £1,230 (no clue how that happened and have just made a payment to cover the overdrawn amount :mad:).
I also have an Aqua card - limit is £850. 45.9% APR.
Current balance is £0 (:T).

The Capital One card is a normal "Classic" card.
I am traveling to America with my wife later in the year and I'm saving up for this - I'm aware that interest on savings are no-where near the interest on credit card; however if I shunt all of my extra money to the cards, I won't be able to afford to go / would just about be able to afford it by maxing out the cards. At the moment I'm very happy having the zero balance on the Aqua.

I've had a spate of poor employment luck in the last year and a bit, I was made to resign from an old job which was okayish paying in December 2012, unemployed for a month, took a job working a few less hours, lower income and was a bit more reliant on the credit cards, which lasted for the 6 month probation and was let go from that in July... very reliant on the cards then until I started a new job in October and am now getting my finances in order.

I am now in a position to be saving approximately £500 per month and putting £200 to the Capital One balance.

However this has led me to a couple of questions -
Does going overdrawn impact on my credit file or just mean that I get charged a fee by the card company?

I applied for a Capital One "Extra" card (for the no foreign transaction fees), the application was declined. This was just after my credit limit with Capital One was increased from £200 to £1,200 (I had reduced my limit from £1,500 to £200 a while back).
Is it worth phoning them and maybe seeing if they'd be willing to transfer my balance from my Classic account to an Extra account and then close the Classic? I really don't want two cards with them!

I don't plan on using the Aqua card again, ever... considering the daft interest rate! Is it best to close it, reduce the limit or just keep it open?

Thanks!

Maestro.

jaymeskenin wrote: »

I am traveling to America with my wife later in the year and I'm saving up for this - I'm aware that interest on savings are no-where near the interest on credit card; however if I shunt all of my extra money to the cards, I won't be able to afford to go / would just about be able to afford it by maxing out the cards.

This is concerning as it effectively means you can't afford to go. I know it's none of my business but this is something you need to consider - just saying.

I am now in a position to be saving approximately £500 per month and putting £200 to the Capital One balance.

However this has led me to a couple of questions -
Does going overdrawn impact on my credit file or just mean that I get charged a fee by the card company?

Good news on the savings -
As far as I know, paying down the overlimit balance quickly will stop it reporting to your credit files. Also, it happening once won't mean game over for you.

I applied for a Capital One "Extra" card (for the no foreign transaction fees), the application was declined. This was just after my credit limit with Capital One was increased from £200 to £1,200 (I had reduced my limit from £1,500 to £200 a while back).
Is it worth phoning them and maybe seeing if they'd be willing to transfer my balance from my Classic account to an Extra account and then close the Classic? I really don't want two cards with them!

You probably can't hold both of those cards (ask them) which is perhaps why the app got declined. You could try asking them to move the account over but don't bank on them being helpful. My experiences with them is that they couldn't even get my name right, so I hadn't much hope.

I don't plan on using the Aqua card again, ever... considering the daft interest rate! Is it best to close it, reduce the limit or just keep it open?

Might be worth keeping for a bit, especially if its your oldest product, it will help keep your average age of accounts (good on credit report) high. Also, does that particular aqua card not have 0 forex fees? Might be worth checking and might solve your predicament.

jaymeskenin

Maestro. wrote: »

This is concerning as it effectively means you can't afford to go. I know it's none of my business but this is something you need to consider - just saying.

Maestro,

Thanks for the help!

If it was more of a holiday or relaxation sort of trip, I would agree. This is unfortunately the last chance I get to see all of my family together (they're all in America), some members of which are quite unwell. Since they live all over the place it's been a pain to get them all in one place long enough to actually see them.

I'm hoping with the saving £500 a month up until the trip I'll have more than enough for flights / hotel / car / spending money and sweep the rest back to paying off credit card balance.

moshoodo1

As maestro said, its worth knowing which type of aqua card you have.

Mine is Aqua Advance which has No fees on abroad spending.

jaymeskenin

Mine is just a normal Aqua card. No benefits to it at all, it's also newer than my Capital One card.

Aquamania

jaymeskenin wrote: »

...
I don't plan on using the Aqua card again, ever... considering the daft interest rate! Is it best to close it, reduce the limit or just keep it open?

Thanks!

If you don't plan to use it, then close it for security's sake if nothing else.

Neither of your credit cards has a particularly attractive interest rate (as is quite often the way with credit cards). If you can't afford to repay what you plan to spend in full when the bill arrives, don't spend it on plastic if you can avoid doing so.

I'm sure you could even get a loan for a lot less than 35% per year - the BoE rate is currently just 0.5%.

Here's just some suggestions:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/cheap-personal-loans
Rates start at less than 5%

jaymeskenin

I have done a bit of loan hunting, I don't appear to be eligible for any - unless they are of a disastrously high interest rate. I trashed my credit file when I was younger, and I'm still struggling to get it back to how it was.

Annoyingly - Capital One have informed me that they can't (won't?) switch my account over (but have welcomed me to apply again... not that daft as I just got declined 2 months ago!).
May very well try Aqua instead - they have a similar card, as at least I have a 0 balance, might be able to use that as a bargaining tool I hope.

jaymeskenin

I applied for a Barclay Card Freedom Rewards card, and was accepted! £3,500 limit at 18.9% APR. So I shall BT my Capital One balance over, pay it off in two/three months and be able to close my Capital One account.

Shame it doesn't have the no foreign currency fee on it, but it's a much better card overall.

Didn't get in contact with Aqua as I've misplaced my card in the house somewhere, so I will have to just close the account.

fawinds

I've had the capital one classic with £2400 limit and one of the platinum business cards with just £750 limit. A couple months ago applied for the classic extra so that I could use it abroad but was declined. Even appealed to no avail. They didn't tell me, but I believe that it was because they don't allow you to hold two capital one cards (except when one is for business). Anyway I have just closed both cards simply because the have failed to explain me if this was the reason for the decline.

You may think this is because my credit file is not up to the card, but at the same time capone denied me, I was accepted for a Tesco balance transfer card with a £5100 limit. Last week I also applied for a barclaycard platinum and have been accepted with a £3500 limit (standard for new customers?). Finally, my aqua reward has been withdrawn by aqua, therefore me losing the 3% cashback and the fee free foreign use, so I applied for a Halifax clarity card and was also accepted, though with a much lower £800 limit. But this is probably due to the number of searches in my file during the last six months (2 from HSBC to increase my overdraft and a personal loan, 1 for the above capone application, and the one from barclaycard.

So, if you really want a foreign use fee free card, just close your current aqua and capital one, wait a month from your last statement and apply again as a new customer. Alternatively apply for the new aqua with just 0.5% cashback or, if you think your credit file is up to it, for the Halifax clarity.

jaymeskenin

Thanks for the advice! Will look into the Clarity card a little later on in the year.