Capital One won't give credit increase -- close card?

abc.xyz

I applied for my first CC in July 2019 in order to start building a credit file.

I got a Capital One card with a £200 limit. In March 2020, they increased my limit to £450. Since then, nothing. They haven't sent me any offers, and I can't even ask for an increase online -- just says they can't offer me one at this time.

Since 2019, I've opened 4 other cards:

Virgin:

09/2019: Opened with £1,800 limit

07/2020: Limit increased to £2,500

05/2022: Limit increased to £3,500

Halifax

12/2019: Opened with £2,700 limit

08/2020: Limit increased to £3,500

11/2021: Limit increased to £4,000

MBNA

04/2021: Opened with £5,000 limit

Lloyds

11/2021: Opened with £6,300 limit

My only debts are a 0% £2,200 balance on the MBNA card which I overpay each month, and car finance which I've never missed a payment on. I use the Lloyds card for monthly expenditure, then pay off in full. The Virgin and Halifax cards are at £0 balance and don't get used.

Given the above limits, I can't understand why they won't give me an increase. But I'm not too bothered about keeping it open as I only use it for Netflix/Spotify/Prime subscription payments, then pay off in full each month. However, it is my oldest CC so does keeping it open add value to my credit file?

dil1976

Why do you need to increase your limit if you have other cards with decent limits on but zero balance?

abc.xyz

dil1976 said:

Why do you need to increase your limit if you have other cards with decent limits on but zero balance?

Well, given the paltry limit, I don't see that it's adding any value to my credit right now.

dil1976

abc.xyz said:

dil1976 said:

Why do you need to increase your limit if you have other cards with decent limits on but zero balance?

Well, given the paltry limit, I don't see that it's adding any value to my credit right now.

Nothing will if you dont use it

MalMonroe

I'd close it. But that's because I don't like Capital One. You really don't need it and don't owe them anything. It's not adding anything to your credit file. It's just there, doing nothing. If you don't intend using any of the other cards soon you could always freeze them for a while. 

Dandytf

Cap 1 Credit Limit Increases have always been few and far apart.
Doesn't make them bad as they often help for tarnished ratings.

thanks

[Deleted User]

Given you've got several other cards - some opened within a few months of the Capital One I would suggest that you ditch it. 

born_again

So you have £18,800 of credit with 4 other lenders & only £2200 debt on one card.

£450 is not worth keeping in the grand scheme of things. It will not harm your credit history. 

Don't forget that Capital One can see the level of your available credit & will know your income.
Given they are a sub prime lender. They have no interest  in increasing their level of risk. When you have have other cards not being used.

abc.xyz

Thanks all. I think I will close it as I will never use it for any purchases.

Marchitiello said:

BT_Broederbund said:

MalMonroe said:

I'd close it. But that's because I don't like Capital One. You really don't need it and don't owe them anything. It's not adding anything to your credit file. It's just there, doing nothing. If you don't intend using any of the other cards soon you could always freeze them for a while. 

Please ignore MalMonroe, their musings are rarely helpful.

I would close the Capital One card though, subprime cards are rarely a good look.

Just to be clear, credit providers do not see who are the issuers of credit, so they won’t know that that credit card account with £450 limit is from Capital One instead of Barclaycard or others. 

Therefore I would not close it yet, although only two years older then your second oldest card, it is still not yet 5-6 years worth of credit history overall.

are any of those card rewards, cashback or have other type of benefits?  You may not need to keep all of them open overtime but I would always keep one that I decide to be the oldest reference account.. I still have and will not close by choice my Barclaycard from 1999 and Amex from 2002, and although I have had around 7-8 cards minimum on the go, all the other rotates and the 3rd oldest is from 2016, but it is a discontinued card with forex free and cashback that I can still exploit, as do all my other cards

I've got a £2,000 overdraft I've had since 2014 and phone contracts, car insurance, etc from pre-2019.

The Lloyds is a low % purchases card. The other 3 are just the standard balance transfer/general cards. I was thinking of asking MBNA/Halifax to combine my limits into one card, since they're both part of the Lloyds group. Do you know if this is possible?

Marchitiello

abc.xyz said:

Thanks all. I think I will close it as I will never use it for any purchases.

Marchitiello said:

BT_Broederbund said:

MalMonroe said:

I'd close it. But that's because I don't like Capital One. You really don't need it and don't owe them anything. It's not adding anything to your credit file. It's just there, doing nothing. If you don't intend using any of the other cards soon you could always freeze them for a while. 

Please ignore MalMonroe, their musings are rarely helpful.

I would close the Capital One card though, subprime cards are rarely a good look.

Just to be clear, credit providers do not see who are the issuers of credit, so they won’t know that that credit card account with £450 limit is from Capital One instead of Barclaycard or others. 

Therefore I would not close it yet, although only two years older then your second oldest card, it is still not yet 5-6 years worth of credit history overall.

are any of those card rewards, cashback or have other type of benefits?  You may not need to keep all of them open overtime but I would always keep one that I decide to be the oldest reference account.. I still have and will not close by choice my Barclaycard from 1999 and Amex from 2002, and although I have had around 7-8 cards minimum on the go, all the other rotates and the 3rd oldest is from 2016, but it is a discontinued card with forex free and cashback that I can still exploit, as do all my other cards

I've got a £2,000 overdraft I've had since 2014 and phone contracts, car insurance, etc from pre-2019.

The Lloyds is a low % purchases card. The other 3 are just the standard balance transfer/general cards. I was thinking of asking MBNA/Halifax to combine my limits into one card, since they're both part of the Lloyds group. Do you know if this is possible?

With the extra information,  I would close the Capital One now.

Although part of the same group, I am fairly certain that they still are not managing the cards right across the group. It was not possible in the past across Halifax and Lloyds for example as I asked something similar (not merge but increase) and was told that they were managed separately.

MBNA has always made it possible to merge limits across cards issued by them  as do other issuers (I have done it with Santander and Barclaycard in the past, as well as merge 4 different MBNA cards into one £27,500 limits before the Lloyds acquisition).

The reason why I also believe it won’t be possible, is that for example I keep getting offer of Limit increases from MBNA (on both my current cards) but never from Lloyds.

born_again

While they are part of the same group. They are separate entities. Each with their infrastructure, APPs etc. 

So you will not be able to combine the limits.