worldtraveler232

Ive had my venture card for 1 yr. Fee is coming up in 1 month. I called customer service and asked if there was a way to waive annual fee : she said there was no way. I told her I have many rewards cards with no fee and was considering canceling it - she still had no answer.

I know many people on this forum have successfully got their annual fee reversed for a certain amount of purchase etc.
Any experience with Cap one?

is0morph

I was able to get my fee waived, but only because I upgraded an existing account to the Venture, so I did not get the first year free. Once it hit, I called and complained and they waived it. Not sure if they'll do it again this year.

Marathon Man

primary cards right now are as follows:

AMEX HH for grocery shopping and most gas and many bills such as cable and wireless. This earns 6pts per $

AARP card for many big purchases and gift cards - earns 5% Cb

Any AMEX GC with a big balance when I know I will do a big purchase - to burn the big GCs.

My Citi MC to earn AA miles

Wife uses AMEX SPG for many in store purchases and the like

Wife uses her C1 card. But not very much. And if she does it's all now only on travel related only. If points add up, which are pretty much all gone right now, we would use them to pay those expenses.

that said, my two cards, the biz and personal have no bal and no points in them.

Should I just close them out to free up some room on my credit report?

When we did coins, this was a great way to earn mega points but now it seems over and we have burned through about 400k points since inception. I'm happy but now it seems over.

mia

This post was originally part of a Capital One Venture Card discussion in MilesBuzz, but because it did not elicit any replies today, and Marathon Man had taken the time to explain his full credit card strategy, we think it warrants a separate thread.

mia

if I understand correctly, the AARP card pay 5% cash back for only six months. If that's accurate, what is your plan when that period ends? Apply for another AARP card if your wife's name, or switch that spending to another card?

Why use the CIti AA card rather than SPG to earn AA miles? Are you on a 1.5 miles per dollar offer?

Marathon Man

Yes I may apply for a second AARP. Of course Chase has its rules and I may also wish to apply for that pending UA card that is supposed to give 60k on sign up... depends on many factors there. but the AARP has been a good card for me.

I do things that max it out though. My $19k CR lim is pretty much used up several times a month. So I cannot put that card in my wallet really.

Which is why I have a MC/Visa in my wallet... the Citi. I use this because currently I am in fact on a 1.5 offer and also because I got an offer to have 0% til end of fall. If I need to use a Visa/MC, this card is it. It can, because it's a Citi, also go well over its CR Lim on occasion, so you never know if and when you may be out there and find you need to do that! Not everywhere takes AMEX.

While I like the C1 points and the benefits the many 100,000s had given us before, I do not value them as much as miles on AA right now and so I tend to only have that card around when I know I will be using it on a travel-related purchase, like airport parking or something.

ddallas

I don't see any benefit to closing them. I guess your idea is that by closing cards you don't plan on using you will lower the amount of available credit on your report which will possibly avoid a denial for "sufficient credit with other creditors" when you apply for the next card?

Unless you have received that denial recently, I don't think I would close any cards. If some of your cards report a balance once in a while, keeping the cards you don't use open should help your credit score by lowering your overall reported utilization of revolving credit. That may or may not be significant depending on your limits on your other cards.

I try to keep my cards open for a year in the hope that I will not be seen as a churner for bonuses and get on any blacklists. I'm not sure how valid that idea is. The problem with keeping them open of course is the amount of available credit can get pretty high in the meantime.

I'd say keep them till the annual fee is due. Maybe if you don't use them for a while Cap One will send you some kind of promo to use them before the year is up.

Marathon Man

This is good advice, thank you.

I am wondering though... Is credit utilization determined on what you have that is open but with a balance or how much you have open? In other words, if I have say, just 2 cards and both have $10,000 credit limits but no balance, have I got $20,000 in CU, or $0?

If just having them open still 'uses' that CU, then I would in fact rather close them. I recall hearing once that it does, but I guess I could contact Tu or Experian or something and try to find out more.

Also, I am wondering: If you close a card in just say 6 months, is it the card company, in this case, C1, who sees you as a potential churner or would the credit bureaus see it and care? Sometimes I figure... if you close a card out early on enough, something washes out and within some shorter period of time you are once again offered new promos and incentives. If you leave a card open, you do not get those because they see you already have one. Then again, there's really no way to track this other than peoples' experience.

I guess many are wondering if C1 will offer a new incentive next year similar to the 100k miles match they did last year. ...and whether or not to leave the cards open or close them in hopes for the offer to come round again.

I think for now I will lean towards keeping them open til the fee comes up, but I will try to research the meaning of Credit Utilization and base it all on what that is.


MM

mia

Is Capital One reporting a credit limit on your the personal Venture card? Does the business card show up at all? (Most issuers do not report business cards unless you default.)

Marathon Man

all 3 showed up in my last report from Trans Union at least--even those with $0 bal.
Biz included.

mia

If they are reporting a true credit limit the cards may be helping your FICO score, though not enough to pay an annual fee.

Marathon Man

good point. I do need to reshuffle a bit and also check me scores again soon. Right now I am doing ok but every little bit helps when you plan to apply for Chase cards!

Then again, I have learned something interesting...

I had a fraud happen to my BofA AS Visa in the spring. They put an alert on my credit and so now whenever I apply for any card, I get a message stating they will call me. So they do. And when they do it actually gives me a chance to explain more about my finances and that helps me get the card!

ddallas

guera

I anguished over this, but I cancelled my C1 Venture when the annual fee came due. I really liked the card, but couldn't justify paying the annual fee when I can use the Chase Sapphire Preferred for my everyday card. Plus I wanted to be able to reapply for this card if they offer any bonuses in the future.

MM-are you finding you have a lot of free time on your hands now that the Mint is being so uncooperative?

chutchins

I plan on doing the same thing. It seemed like a great card, but 2% cashback isn't worth it when I can get 2 miles and always redeem miles >$0.01/mi.