Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Credit Card Ballet

I generally make it a habit to call all of my credit cards each quarter. I like to nose around and see what I can get away with. Whether it be a credit limit increase, an adjustment to my interest rate or having the annual fee waived.

Today was such a day! I started out by calling OrchardBank who has generally been very good about credit increases, yet not so good at adjusting the interest rate on my card. I started the call as I always do, inquiring as to whether we could look into a credit limit increase and was told that they could not at this time. Disappointing. When I asked about the interest rate I was told that they could not do that at this time either.

On to the next. Chase was up this time and I was glad to hear a familiar, midwest voice on the phone. This time, they were able to increase my credit limit by 50%! I was surprised and somewhat elated to here those words. I've had this card for a number of years and the credit limit has been sitting at relatively the same amount for most of that time. I segued in with that good news to see if there was anything they could do about the interest rate of the card and the representative told me that they could not at this time. She was, however, able to tell me that they will begin to release offers on cards in the new year so that I should call back around January or February. Not sure whether I will get anywhere then, but I figure it will be worth a shot.

Lastly, I called CapitalOne and was advised that they could not provide me with a credit increase at this time. Apparently, they are increasing credit limits on a regular basis at their own discretion and not processing increases at the request of their customers. I was disappointed, of course, but more so that I no longer had any power at all in the matter. When I asked her about the interest rate she advised that she would need to transfer me to a Financial Services Representative. This was new.

I was greeted with another Mid Western voice - lucky me, the second of the night. She advised that she unfortunately could not do anything about the interest rate at this time. She asked if there was any particular reason why I had not used the card in well over a year. I proceeded to explain to her that due to the interest rate on the card I just couldn't justify using it, hoping that she might be able to pull whatever strings or make whatever keystrokes she could to fix that for me. She couldn't, unfortunately, but added that if I wanted to avoid the interest rate I could just pay off my purchases before the new billing cycle. Now, I know all of these things, but still found it rather interesting that a credit card company would have someone on the phone who would explain to you HOW to avoid paying them interest. She added, as well, that if I were to start actively using the card I could also increase my credit limit.

So it turns out, CapitalOne would pull my usage history and determine an increase based solely on my usage and ability to pay the full balance every month. She also told me that she had just spoken to a woman who did this for over a year and her credit limit grew from $500 to $4500. I figure I will give it a shot and see what happens.

I think this quarter was rather successful for my Credit Card Ballet. I would also mention that CapitalOne was rather successful in winning my heart over again. Impressed, that they actually have people on the other line who are mentoring their customers on the best use of the credit and how to optimize it.

Kudos, CapitalOne!

No comments: