Capital One. You suck.

[stpauler]

I'll admit, I was lured in by you. My mailbox received lots of mail from you and your pre-approvals. Many, many, pre-approvals.

Six months of 0% APR? Why yes, that does sound delightful!
A $39 annual fee? Well, my other cards don't have any fees, but $39 ain't that much.
A high credit limit? OK, I give, I don't even use a credit card that often, but I'm going on a couple trips ahead and it's good to have another card for emergency's sake.

So, I apply online, get immediate approval and love showered on me and a couple days later, I get the card with Van Gogh on it. (It was that or kittens or flags or kittens waving flags). I stick it in my wallet and don't give it a second thought for a while.

Fast forward a couple weeks to today. I get my monthly credit bureau report and my scores have dropped. Quite significantly too. Experian, for one has dropped almost 40 points. Whaaaat? According to the report, I've got 99.8% of credit available on my cards. The reason, it turns out, is that on one of my cards the balance to limit ratio is too high. That card? Capital One. It's showing its annual fee of $39 on my report and that's it. It's also not showing a limit. This is a nice little ding that knocked the score down.

And it's not just me: (http://wgntv.trb.com/news/local/morningnews/wgntv-news-123004glink,0,4822425.story?coll=wgntv-morning-news-1) If you use more than 30 percent of your available credit limit, it will drop your credit score. But watch out for credit cards like Capital One. It doesn't report your available credit limit, just the balance you carry.

To anyone who pulls a copy of your credit report, it'll look like you've maxed out your Capital One card, even if you balance is just a few hundred dollars. That can drop your credit score by as much as 50 points and cause creditors to raise your interest rate on other debt you carry.

"If you have good credit, you always have the ability to go to your creditor and ask them for a lower rate," Mark says.

According to Cardweb and other industry experts, Capital One is the only credit card company that does not report the maximum available credit limit that card holders have. Why do they do it?

Capital One says the information is proprietary but if their good customers have artificially lower scores, it may keep them from being cherry-picked by other credit card companies.

So fuck you, Capital One, for not letting me know this. I guess I should have done more investigation on this before, but grrr....

[Sunspace]

This kind of manoeuvre is why I do not do business with Capital One.

[World Eater]

I had a Capital One card, used it, paid it off, told them to fuck off, and cut the card to ribbons.

<wiping hands on pants>

[Dag Otto]

Capital One. I've seen the commercials on TV, but all I remember is 'No'. I guess that's all that anyone needs to know about them.



Capital One looks to have some competition coming up with the news that Bank of America bought MBNA. That's a major consolidation of suck.

[Queen Bruin]

Holy shit, that's totally fucked. Now I'm glad we didn't get one! Lot of help that would be for two people trying to raise their credit . . .

[Jpeg Jones]

Are they reporting the high limit in lieu of the maximum credit limit? That is, the most you've ever had charged up on that card at one time?

I've heard that in these situations you can charge up a whole lot one month, then pay it all off immediately. The "high limit" number is what the credit bureaus will calculate on in the absence of a reported "credit limit".

[stpauler]

They must be as my high limit on it is $39.00.

Here's what it looks like:
Account Name: CAP ONE BK
Account Number: 4XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Acct Type: Credit Card - Revolving Terms
Acct Status: Open
Monthly Payment: $15.00
Date Open: 6/1/2005
Balance: $39.00
Terms: Revolving
High Balance: $39.00
Limit:
Past Due:
Payment Status: Current
Comments:
Whereas all of the other cards have the high balance, they also have the limit which is what the report is figuring the fico score off of. My other two cards (One with a $6.00 balance and the other with $150.00) are well below their limits. But since the score is based on individual instead of collective available credit limits, I'm getting dinged by Crapital One's scheme.

[fruitbat]

I applied for and recieved a Capital One card a couple of years ago. The intention was to have a separate card for my business expenses to make tax time a bit easier. I put my office as my billing address. Now this is an office that I share with about twenty other people and the mail comes to the front desk and is distributed from there. The amount of junk mail I started to recieve was absolutely astonishing.

I would get at least one piece of junk mail a day trying to get me to sign up for all sorts of dubious credit arrangements. I figured it would slow down, but for a year I recieved something every day. It became an embarassment as most of it was offers to repair people's credit. My credit is good, but I am sure I looked like a chronic deadbeat. I was thrilled to close that acccount and be rid of them.

[swampbear]

I love my CitiBank card. No annual fee. Low percentage rate. Cashback bonus rewards.

CapitolOne is a great big poo shit flinging monkey in my book. Their many times weekly "offers" don't even make it from the mailbox to inside the house. A trash can beside the garage is a good thing.

[Otto]

Not that I like the Capital One maneuver, but shouldn't some ire be reserved for a credit scoring model that lowers your score more than one full point for each dollar of this reported balance?

[Wolfian]

:confused: :mad: Fuckers! That's why I'm getting declined for other cards! Oh, we are so broken up Capital One!

[ScoobyTX]

Their many times weekly "offers" don't even make it from the mailbox to inside the house. A trash can beside the garage is a good thing.Just a friendly suggestion- those offer mailings should be shredded, not just tossed into an outside trashcan. They are identity theft waiting to happen.

[DrDeth]

I. I get my monthly credit bureau report and my scores have dropped. Quite significantly too. Experian, for one has dropped almost 40 points. Whaaaat? According to the report, I've got 99.8% of credit available on my cards. The reason, it turns out, is that on one of my cards the balance to limit ratio is too high. That card? Capital One. It's showing its annual fee of $39 on my report and that's it. It's also not showing a limit. This is a nice little ding that knocked the score down.
.

But- just because FICO or whoever the hell it is has no common sense and sues a silly-assed and meaningless system to assign you a "score"- why is this Capital One's fault?

The fault really lies in the FICO point system, which seems to have no direct basis is reality.

[stpauler]

But- just because FICO or whoever the hell it is has no common sense and sues a silly-assed and meaningless system to assign you a "score"- why is this Capital One's fault?

The fault really lies in the FICO point system, which seems to have no direct basis is reality.
It's Capital One's fault because they know this and purposefully take advantage of it as opposed to the other credit cards I have which don't.

[duffer]

Not that I like the Capital One maneuver, but shouldn't some ire be reserved for a credit scoring model that lowers your score more than one full point for each dollar of this reported balance?

This was my thought as well. We have 3 corporations that pretty much control the quality of your life when it comes to the big things. Housing, car, employment. And if they get something wrong? Now you're fucked.

You have to figure out which hoops to jump through to see what they have on you. (Free once a year, IF you know where to go) If something is wrong and really drags you down through no fault of your own? Fuck you. Spend the next year trying to fix it. Meanwhile, we'll continue to trash your financial standing until we get around to fixing it. Recompense for our screw-up? Fuck you. Make enough noise and we'll, ahem, make a few more mistakes.


I don't know what the book's plot device was, but based on the end goal protrayed in the movie, I'd blow Tyler Durden. I'd even swallow.

[Clothahump]

I've had nothing but problems with Capital One.

They ain't in my wallet any more....

[DrDeth]

It's Capital One's fault because they know this and purposefully take advantage of it as opposed to the other credit cards I have which don't.

How do you know they do this on purpose to hurt your credit score? :confused:

[ivylass]

(Free once a year, IF you know where to go)

www.annualcreditreport.com

I'm going to set it up to get the reports every four months, so I'm never more than four months behind on my information.

[stpauler]

How do you know they do this on purpose to hurt your credit score? :confused:
Read the link in my OP:

Capital One says the information is proprietary but if their good customers have artificially lower scores, it may keep them from being cherry-picked by other credit card companies.

[pulykamell]

Oh fuck.

I just got one of these with a $3K limit. I did this because I wanted to have an alternative to my MBNA card which has a $2.5K limit. I am currently carrying no balance on either of the cards (well, I did charge up $900+ on the CapOne card, but after reading all this crap I paid it off from my checking account.)

I just checked my FICO score and, sure enough, in the last two months since getting my CapOne card, it's gone down from 685 to 666. The whole point for me getting the CapOne card was to increase my available credit and hopefully inch my credit score back up to the 700s, where it belongs.

What's my best option now? I suppose there's no way I, as a consumer, can directly report my credit limit to the credit agencies, I suppose? And with a 666 score and recent ping for the CapOne credit check, I don't think CitiBank or BankOne will be lining up to do business with me, will they?

Is it wise for me to close this account immediately? I'd like to have an extra $3K in case of emergencies, but not if my FICO is being completely screwed.

[pulykamell]

Actually, the CapOne card I got was the fee-less card. So now I have reported a maximum balance of $900-ish and current balance of $0. Is this somehow going to figure into the score?

[DrDeth]

Read the link in my OP:

Capital One says the information is proprietary but if their good customers have artificially lower scores, it may keep them from being cherry-picked by other credit card companies.

Yes, but that's just what one TV stations has supposed.

[Steve MB]

Every postage paid envelope I get from Capitol One goes straight back, with as much crap as I can shove into it within the limits inferred from the Master's commentary (www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_356.html) on the subject.

[Steve MB]

CapitolOne is a great big poo shit flinging monkey in my book. Their many times weekly "offers" don't even make it from the mailbox to inside the house. A trash can beside the garage is a good thing.
I hope that trash bag has a shredder or burn bag in it -- my name for these turdlets is "E-Z Identitheft Pak"....

[Steve MB]

But- just because FICO or whoever the hell it is has no common sense and sues a silly-assed and meaningless system to assign you a "score"- why is this Capital One's fault?
Er, because they game the system by using this bug to artificially lower their customers' credit scores, thereby making it more difficult for them to escape?

[Steve MB]

Yes, but that's just what one TV stations has supposed.
Given that 1)we have multiple independent reports of it happening, and 2)it is a predictable result of the known fact that credit scorers use your actual balance in lieu of your credit limit if the latter information is withheld, this is kind of like supposing that a guy sticking a slim jim into a car window while trying to look everywhere at once is up to no good.

[GKW]

This was my thought as well. We have 3 corporations that pretty much control the quality of your life when it comes to the big things. Housing, car, employment. And if they get something wrong? Now you're fucked.

You have to figure out which hoops to jump through to see what they have on you. (Free once a year, IF you know where to go) If something is wrong and really drags you down through no fault of your own? Fuck you. Spend the next year trying to fix it. Meanwhile, we'll continue to trash your financial standing until we get around to fixing it. Recompense for our screw-up? Fuck you. Make enough noise and we'll, ahem, make a few more mistakes.


I don't know what the book's plot device was, but based on the end goal protrayed in the movie, I'd blow Tyler Durden. I'd even swallow.

One of my useless daydreams is that some altruistic hacker will avail themselves of those three companies' data bases and press the reset button *voila* everyone gets a do-over. That would be better than winning the lottery!

[dbly1850]

Not only does Capital One ding your credit rating, they make money off the start up fees, to the point they turn profit, the next month.. Let's say you get a 300 dollar card, you pay fees about 60 dollars, just to get the card, plus first month interest.. Cost to Capital One less than 10 bucks in setup fees and to make the card, pay postage to mail it etc.. So Capital One is already making money off you.. So you move or never use the card, Anyway you didn't close it. 5 years later, Iget dragged into court for non-payment, the balance of 300 dollars is now 11,234 (that is not a typo) of course they'll settle for 6000 if I pay them in cash.. Funny, if I ask for a credit limit of even 1,000 they told me to go to hell.. Yet now I got over 10,000 in credit.. I lost my house, but I paid the Capital One Blood suckers off.. Of course the credit report doesn't reflect the fact I paid them off.. Iam S.O.L
Thank You Capital One.. I'd love to go on TV and tell my story..

[Elza B]

Speaking as a former Capitol One employee...

They are out to screw you in any way possible.

Okay, I can't comment on things like your credit score being dinged because I'm still learning that stuff myself, but I will say that when I worked for them in Customer Relations, I saw the following things:

Things like dbly1850 just described - charging $60 just to get it going, so if people called after 2 months when they'd closed the card, they'd have $180 in FEES alone.

A payment posted ONE DAY AFTER the closing date, so of course, they had a late fee - and the CRS wasn't allowed to remove it (we had a button to click that told us if we could or not). I saw this so often that I was starting to suspect that payments were being held an extra day.

The stupid programs and products that we offered were immediately charged to a client's account EVEN IF THEY SAID NO. I had so many people call in who said they NEVER authorized these things and were being charged for them anyway.

I felt like people were getting screwed.

But whatever you do, please don't take it out on your CSRs. As newly-hired CSRs, we were NEVER told that there would be selling involved - so the offering of products when you call in was unexpected by US. I won't even tell you how shocked I was to get into training and learn (after being specifically TOLD prior to being hired that there was no selling) that we had to market products over the phone to clients. And a CSR probably feels about as helpless as you do when it comes to certain aspects of your card. They have absolutely no ability to make judgment calls - it's all right there in the system.

E.

[boofuu]

www.annualcreditreport.com

I'm going to set it up to get the reports every four months, so I'm never more than four months behind on my information.

I was under the impression that getting your credit report too often is detrimental to your credit score. I will have to look this up after dinner.

I should know all the ins-and-outs of credit. When I was a telephone surveyor (no tomatoes please, I managed to leave while I still had a soul) my company was contracted by the government to collect data surveying the average American on his knowledge of credit reporting. From the calls I made, that was very very little.

[DrDeth]

I was under the impression that getting your credit report too often is detrimental to your credit score. I will have to look this up after dinner.
.

Not AFAIK. Nor does it say anything about that in the CR report in this month's issue.

I want to say here that it looks like the OP is right. :smack: I read the CR report today on creidt scores, and it specifically mentions this practice of not reporting your limit as a way of reducing your score to keep you with them- although they did not mention Capital One by name. Note that I still say that this is partially the fault of FICO who could simply adjust for this. :rolleyes:

[ScoobyTX]

I was under the impression that getting your credit report too often is detrimental to your credit score. I will have to look this up after dinner.Reports that you get for yourself do not count. Reports that go out to potential creditors at your request (i.e. authorized by a credit application) count against you. Reports by current creditors to keep an eye on you don't count against you.

[GaWd]

I was under the impression that getting your credit report too often is detrimental to your credit score. I will have to look this up after dinner.

Having inquiries into your credit history can hurt your bottom line. You as a consumer receiving a copy of your credit will not. When a credit card company/background investigator/Mortgage Co. "Run" your credit is what may possibly lower your score. I say possibly, because only if you have many inquiries(probably something like 3 in 6 months), you begin to look like a liability because you are attempting to obtain credit from different sources in a short period of time.

Please get your credit report. It's a wonderful help to a consumer who is concerned with their credit score. It will point out potential problems and even some activity/cards/accounts you might not even know you had.

Sam

[stpauler]

Interesting Update.

So I just ran my credit report with Experian again. Well, before I get to that, in the last month I've gone on a couple mini-vacations, a weekend in Vegas and then a weekend in the UP of Michigan. I paid for almost all of the stuff on the Capital One card. Hey, I'm getting the 0% APR and getting my credit score reemed for it, "why not?" I thought. This is when I found out the credit score trick. Well, Capital One did report my new high limit of something like $800.00. It also reported the payment I made of $400.00. So my high limit then became my surrogate credit limit. Apparently since my balance is less than my high limit when a credit limit isn't showing, this improves the score and it actually hopped back up to where it was before this whole thing started.

Now, I'm not sure if that high limit will carry over all the time or if I have to make big purchases and return 'em.

Still, a big hearty fuck you to Capital One.

[ivylass]

I dropped Cap One when they sent me a letter telling me they were going to start charging me $48 a year for the privilege of using their card.

I said Screw You and got one from my bank with a higher limit and lower interest. I will never pay an annual fee.

[kidchameleon]

I hope that trash bag has a shredder or burn bag in it -- my name for these turdlets is "E-Z Identitheft Pak"....

I take mine to work and toss 'em in the radioactive bioharard bags. Steal my identity out of that, leeches!

[Lute Skywatcher]

What's my best option now? I suppose there's no way I, as a consumer, can directly report my credit limit to the credit agencies, I suppose? And with a 666 score and recent ping for the CapOne credit check, I don't think CitiBank or BankOne will be lining up to do business with me, will they?

Is it wise for me to close this account immediately? I'd like to have an extra $3K in case of emergencies, but not if my FICO is being completely screwed.I suggest closing CapitolOne ASAP and getting an American Express Blue card instead. My Blue Cash card has a $7500 limit, no annual fee, and doesn't need to be paid off every month.

[SanibelMan]

Just to make sure I understand this: Am I being punished if I spend, say, $1,200 of my $1,400 limit on my credit card, even though I pay the balance due in full every month and never pay interest or fees on the card? 'Cause I'll just cancel the motherfucker if that's the case and use my debit card for everything. My credit card doesn't do anything except delay the payment by a month anyway.

[randomlyblanks]

Just to make sure I understand this: Am I being punished if I spend, say, $1,200 of my $1,400 limit on my credit card, even though I pay the balance due in full every month and never pay interest or fees on the card? 'Cause I'll just cancel the motherfucker if that's the case and use my debit card for everything. My credit card doesn't do anything except delay the payment by a month anyway.

Actually, yes you are being punished. The credit bureaus don't distinguish between the balance you carry from month to month and the current amount charged to the card; they just take a snapshot during that month and report whatever balance is currently only the card, even if you plan to pay it off at the end of the month. If you routinely run up close to the credit limit in a given month, you might want to look into a card like I have. I carry a Citibank Diamond Rewards card which has some pretty decent rewards, but more importantly you can make online payments directly from your bank account up to 4 times in a given billing cycle. So you can just pay it off with the click of your mouse at the end of every week in order to keep the balance that would be reported fairly low. If you're not interested in rewards and want to go back to just using debit, don't cancel your card. That actually causes your credit score to drop, because of the decrease in available credit. Keep the card and use it to make a small purchase or two every year to keep the account open and reported.

Cite (http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/Yourcreditrating/P38052.asp)

[Shirley Ujest]

Every postage paid envelope I get from Capitol One goes straight back, with as much crap as I can shove into it within the limits inferred from the Master's commentary (www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_356.html) on the subject.



Dear SteveMB

You have given me something to do that is constructive, malicious and vindictive.

If this is not too untoward, I think I possibly adore you in a platonic way.

Yer pal,

Shirley

[Canadjun]

I carry a Citibank Diamond Rewards card which has some pretty decent rewards, but more importantly you can make online payments directly from your bank account up to 4 times in a given billing cycle.
If I wanted to I could transfer money from my bank account to my Amex or Mastercard whenever my little heart desired (assuming, of course, my little heart desired to often enough to keep them happy). Are you saying Citibank doesn't accept money from you if you give it to them a 5th time in one month?

[randomlyblanks]

If I wanted to I could transfer money from my bank account to my Amex or Mastercard whenever my little heart desired (assuming, of course, my little heart desired to often enough to keep them happy). Are you saying Citibank doesn't accept money from you if you give it to them a 5th time in one month?

Yep, I have no clue why, but 4 times a month is more than enough for me. Just pointing out some options.

[bare]

Interesting Update.

Now, I'm not sure if that high limit will carry over all the time or if I have to make big purchases and return 'em.

Still, a big hearty fuck you to Capital One.


Your new high limit will always reflect that now. What you've done is the only way to get past Cap1's bullshit. Use it temporarily up to your maximum and pay it off.

In the unlikely event that they give you a credit increase, you have to do it again to make sure that they report your maximum. Boogers!

[ivylass]

Every postage paid envelope I get from Capitol One goes straight back, with as much crap as I can shove into it within the limits inferred from the Master's commentary (www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_356.html) on the subject.

Actually, that may not help cut down on your junk mail.

Cite (http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/telemarket.asp)

Returning junk mail to direct mailers on their dime (by stuffing it back into their postage-paid return envelopes) may cost them some money and provide you with a bit of personal satisfaction, but it won't cut down on the amount of junk mail you receive. In fact, it may actually increase your junk mail load, since the primary metric used to gauge the effectiveness of many direct mail campaigns is the number of responses received (even if those responses are negative).

[Ashes, Ashes]

Thank you SDMB for saving me from ever falling into Capital One's clutches. A thread a while back alerted me to their evil ways and I've steered clear. When the waterfall of offers come pouring out of my mail box, I shread with smug satisfaction.

I carry a Citibank Diamond Rewards card which has some pretty decent rewards, but more importantly you can make online payments directly from your bank account up to 4 times in a given billing cycle
My card allows me to give them money as many times as I'd like per cycle, and it even has an automatic minimum payment feature so that I'm never late I've never encountered this feature so I hope I'm not praising something that's SOP everywhere). I like this card, though I'm looking into another that a money magazine suggested. Nothing flashy, just a very fair rate.

[Clothahump]

Guess what's in my wallet?

Not Capitol One any more, that's for damn sure.

[Misnomer]

I read the same Consumer Reports article as DrDeth, and something I haven't seen mentioned in this thread yet is that getting your free credit report does not give you your FICO score (and a report without a score isn't very useful). That is a separate request, and IIRC there may be a fee involved. Consumer Reports also mentioned that the "easy" links for the free reports are sometimes anything but: you have to go jump through various hoops to get to your report. They recommended a site/service called MyFICO.com (http://www.myfico.com/), and I'm here to second their recommendation.

I was considering ditching my AmEx and replacing it with a VISA card, but before doing so I wanted to look at my credit reports. Virginia won't offer free reports until September, but I didn't want to wait that long (in hopes of ditching AmEx before the annual fee payment in October) so just yesterday I went to MyFICO and ordered my reports -- plus my FICO scores. I ordered the package that provides all three reports, and the cost was less than $15/report.

It's a great service: the reports were provided immediately, and everything was very clear and easy to understand. My score varied by 20 points from the highest to lowest (with the highest being from Experian, stpauler ... I hope you checked the other reporting agencies, too!), but I'm hovering right around slightly-better-than-average. It's what I expected, but it was nice to see it confirmed. ;) My reports will be available online for just over a month.

I also second the conventional wisdom about looking at all three of the major agencies' reports, and not just to see the different score assigned by each: it was very interesting to see what accounts/inquiries showed up on which report, and what some agencies considered "negative" things (like the high balance-to-limit ratio mentioned in the OP) that other agencies didn't mention at all.

The MyFICO service has some neat features, too: for example, you can pick from a few "what if" scenarios and see how your FICO score would be affected (what if I get a new credit card, what if I skip a payment, etc.).

I almost started a MPSMIS thread about this yesterday, but didn't want to sound like a MyFICO shill. Seems appropriate for this thread, though. :)

[pulykamell]

I suggest closing CapitolOne ASAP and getting an American Express Blue card instead. My Blue Cash card has a $7500 limit, no annual fee, and doesn't need to be paid off every month.

I'll look into it, but I'm always leary of closing credit cards. I decided to run up my CapOne car to 2/3 its limit (to $2000), wait a month, pay off the debt (since I have 6 months 0% financing), and now the agencies should see $2000 as my CapOne credit limit, which is fine by me, as it represents about 1/4 of my available credit, and I have no balances on any of the other cards.

[Lute Skywatcher]

I'll look into it, but I'm always leary of closing credit cards.Normally that's a good idea but it probably doesn't apply here because CapitolOne doesn't report credit limits. Maybe you could get the AmEx card, transfer your CapOne balance, then close that card.

[pulykamell]

Normally that's a good idea but it probably doesn't apply here because CapitolOne doesn't report credit limits. Maybe you could get the AmEx card, transfer your CapOne balance, then close that card.

Yeah, but they report high balance, which is used in lieu of credit limit right. So if I rack up my high balance to $1800, then pay it off, $1800 will be reported as my de facto credit limit until I carry a higher balance, n'est-ce pas?

[Misnomer]

Yeah, but they report high balance, which is used in lieu of credit limit right. So if I rack up my high balance to $1800, then pay it off, $1800 will be reported as my de facto credit limit until I carry a higher balance, n'est-ce pas?Sorry for jumping in, but won't your limit only show as $1800 for that one month? Then you're back to square one the following month, unless you plan to repeatedly charge $1800 and pay it off a month later. And even if you do, if a potential creditor pings your report on a date when your balance equals the limit (or is close to it), your score will be negatively affected.

Or have I missed something?

[bare]

Or have I missed something?


My original post obviously.

[bare]

All three of my credit reports drawn last month report my high limit, although the actual balance is zero and has been for many months. As I mentioned, once you use your available credit and pay it off, they do report the high balance, forever I assume.

[Misnomer]

My original post obviously.Yep, you're right. My bad.

All three of my credit reports drawn last month report my high limit, although the actual balance is zero and has been for many months. As I mentioned, once you use your available credit and pay it off, they do report the high balance, forever I assume.I think I temporarily confused AmEx with Capital One; I knew we were talking about one, but I was thinking about the other. If so, that's probably why I forgot about your original post (because it doesn't work that way with regular green AmEx cards).

[Lute Skywatcher]

Yeah, but they report high balance, which is used in lieu of credit limit right. So if I rack up my high balance to $1800, then pay it off, $1800 will be reported as my de facto credit limit until I carry a higher balance, n'est-ce pas?Yeah, which is why financial experts say transfer the balance to another card and close the non-reporting one ASAP.

I've just learned that American Express reports limits for their Optima and Blue cards but not the Green, Gold, or Platinum.

[TheBoneyKingofNowhere]

I love my CitiBank card. No annual fee. Low percentage rate. Cashb

I'll second this -- I've never had an issue w/ my CitiCard -- great rewards (I seem to be able to cash out between $50-$70 several times a year), can pay online up to 4 times per cycle, only receive "offers" maybe once a month, and like their "virtual account number" program for making on-line or one-time purchases is nice. Not sure what my interest rate is tho (but I've never not paid the full balance, so . . .).

[Steve MB]

Returning junk mail to direct mailers on their dime (by stuffing it back into their postage-paid return envelopes) may cost them some money and provide you with a bit of personal satisfaction, but it won't cut down on the amount of junk mail you receive. In fact, it may actually increase your junk mail load, since the primary metric used to gauge the effectiveness of many direct mail campaigns is the number of responses received (even if those responses are negative).
How about if you make sure the response is anonymous (including tearing a bit out of the "Customer Tracking Number/Barcode" some of them have)?