Capital One - 2nd Card

Hmmm, will be interesting to see if a card is offered next month.... if it is, I may wait a month before going through and see what the new limit is! I guess every 2 months does make you look desperate, but that's a ridiculous jump from 2 to 3 months - there seems no logic in some of these decisions (including Cap1's limit increase 'policy')

I don't want to run a balance - it's for Car Rental excess. They generally demand something silly like £1,000 pre-auth from a credit card, some get funny about using a debit card - even though that amount in cash is in there.

Plus an account for several thousand on my credit report will look better and show I'm behaving nowadays

Very good point. When I applied for my first card, I had Experian & Equifax, which is even worse!!

I think if that's *all* someone is applying for, then if 3 months is the optimal interval for highest limit, 4 a year isn't a great deal. Even if you then add in a few apps elsewhere, any lower than say 12 a year isn't a great deal (unless you want a mortgage etc).

What worries me more is all the new & short lived accounts on the credit file (all are going to be combined and shut within 7 months!), but if the limit is decent it's worth doing IMO. If it was £200 I think I'd keep it running longer and try to up the limit on both cards first.

I want a mortgage Oct 2018, so from Oct 2017 I have to stop applying for things 'for the fun of it' because although Unsecured underwriters don't seem to care, a mortgage underwriter would!!