Should I close Cap One card?

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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,175 Forumite
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    Had a Cap One Luma card for 5 years with £250 limit. Just before Xmas I got an email saying they are increasing my limit to £450. Wowee! :T
  • System
    System Posts: 178,094 Community Admin
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    adindas wrote: »
    In term of cashback, you could only beat Capital one (e.g cashback 0.5%+) If you could spend £5000+. Also Anex as not as widely acceptable compared to Mastercard.

    But Amex is not a subsitute for capital one to be used as a travel creditcard.

    It is your money anyway so do what you think the best for you.

    This is all academic as the OP hasn't said their card has cashback or indeed any other perks - just a high APR and low credit limit.

    In those circumstances, with other options now, ditch and switch...
  • nicetomeetyou
    nicetomeetyou Posts: 310 Forumite
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    I have a Vanquis card which original limit was £200, they increased that up to £500 after about 2 months.

    I did a light search to get a nationwide member credit card but said it was unlikely I'd be accepted. Do you think because I clicked the unemployed box do they deny because of that. I do earn much more than the £5000 a year need for the card. I'm working on improving my credit worthiness to be accepted for better cards.. I have come quite fair this year.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    Credit scoring is a magical game where nobody other than the lender knows for sure why it's failed/low!

    I'd imagine employment status would be one of the key ones - Full Time Employed should be lower risk than say Self-employed. Both of those two would be lower risk of defaulting than Unemployed.

    It's always a combination of factors though - so a low income, unemployed and a lack of history/poor history (??) could be the final straw.

    If you were unemployed but earning £60k per year in investment income/dividends, then it would be a very different story!

    Have you tried the eligibility checker to see what type of cards you could get? https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/eligibility/credit-cards/ That's a good benchmark, then try the lenders own site direct (I wouldn't click through from here).

    E.g. if, say, Barclaycard says 90% or Pre-approved - go to barclaycard.co.uk, find the eligibility checker and put your details in. It takes longer, but I find that gives much more accurate results than just firing applications off.

    As for Cap1, they've been really good to me to be fair to them. Took the card approx. 4 years ago (having defaulted with them 2 years before that) and it went from a few hundred up to £4k.

    I guess £4k is either the cap or the maximum they think I could possibly afford on my salary (quite right too at that APR!!!) as it's not gone up for a long time.
  • jcontest
    jcontest Posts: 223 Forumite
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    nicetomeetyou wrote: »
    I have a Vanquis card which original limit was £200, they increased that up to £500 after about 2 months.

    I did a light search to get a nationwide member credit card but said it was unlikely I'd be accepted. Do you think because I clicked the unemployed box do they deny because of that. I do earn much more than the £5000 a year need for the card. I'm working on improving my credit worthiness to be accepted for better cards.. I have come quite fair this year.


    How can you be unemployed and earning >£5000 PA.
    I know some situations where that's likely (investments, seasonal work and such), just wondering what your story is. If it is something like self employment then can't you report your expected yearly income? The key to applying for things is consistency. Differences on applications do get flagged even if they are minor.
  • nicetomeetyou
    nicetomeetyou Posts: 310 Forumite
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    edited 29 December 2019 at 7:23PM
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    I’m on disability benefits and my annal income is around £15.600 excluding housing costs. I have a financial appointee that manages my money and I get a personal allowance of £550 a month, this is disposable income. On my account it says money from corporate director.. this might make a difference? I can asked my appointee if I need more for things and he puts it in my account so I have more then £6.600 annually in my account but the regular income is £125 every Thursday.. plus £50 a month so total £550 a month. My outgoings out that are £13 account fees, £48 mobile phone bill, and £160 a month food and coffees, if I was better with money I could save £330 a month. I use rest of money to book coach holidays. I went on 4 this year,.
  • jcontest
    jcontest Posts: 223 Forumite
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    Sounds like it might be a little complicated then.
    I would think the £15,600 (total cash amount of benefits) is what you would want to claim as "income", but as someone else is in control of your money then I am not sure if that would be the way to go.


    I am also unsure if you having such an account could cause complications with having an appointee (DWP can look at things oddly).
  • nicetomeetyou
    nicetomeetyou Posts: 310 Forumite
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    jcontest wrote: »
    I am also unsure if you having such an account could cause complications with having an appointee (DWP can look at things oddly).

    Exactly, it's paradoxical. I'm deemed to lack capacity managing my own finances. I have asked social services multiple times that I want the appointeeship annulling over the years which is evident from posts here going back since I joined that I don't want the appointee. A psychologist said when I'm well I have capacity but when I'm psychotic I lack capacity. Fare enough, I lack capacity probably 5% of the time. Its lost on my CPN and social worker that I have £1650 worth of credit and managing well for 12 months, only in debt £300 which is very well manageable.
  • jcontest
    jcontest Posts: 223 Forumite
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    Yea, To me I would say you shouldn't take out a credit account. Only because I am considering that your debts are managed for you (ish) and that DWP/Social feel your unable to do it all of the time.



    But then, not being able to have credit can be quite restricting at times, and you are a grown adult, and 95% of the time you would be penalized for that other 5% of the time.


    Paying £13 a month for account management (If I read that correctly) seems to me like a okay amount as I know some councils charge 4-5 times that! That piece of mind that your protected should be a bonus.


    I know someone who struggles, and in retrospect I wish we would have done that (appointee) for him too. He would have hated it, and you probably hate it too. He is nearly homeless now and there is little we can do. The system does seem odd as it can let you build up a large debt, I would avoid it if you can and just build up a cash pot (that stays below means tested limits) and use that. Just in case.
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