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Phone Number Report: T.M. stay away from Capital One. I was with them for 10 years, and as you grow older your needs cnahge. Capital One will not cnahge with you. Capital One's accounts have fixed terms, meaning that when newer products come out with better rewards, interest rates, and annual membership fees, you cannot cnahge your product, You're stuck with what you have. For example I had a 9.9% APR interest rate on my card for 10 years. No cash back, no rewards, nothing. It had an annual fee of $99.00. They offer the same card now for $49.00 with 1% cash back, rate of 9.9%. They will not give you the same terms as new clients (remember these are fixed, not teaser rates). You also cannot apply for a second account. (unless you have one of their Plain Jane non-rewards accounts). They keep the terms fixed and push for recent graduates and people with tarnished credit. Once you're established there is a world of better products out there, and Capital One knows it. When you go to ask for a cnahge in terms, or even a line of credit increase, the answer is no, they periodically review accounts for credit line increases you can't ask for one. Now, this is most likely a first account for most people. When Capital One won't negotiate, they'll remind you that your account is possibly one of your oldest, and if you cancel it, it will account for about 15% of your credit rating as it is your oldest established account. You're going rethink this, and pay their fees because you don't want to hurt your credit score (and its true by the way) They'll even tell you to just keep it open (and pay their fees) and get another credit card elsewhere if you like. See, they have you hooked until you want to make the jump without caring about your credit score One, that I finally did this year after paying $1000 in membership fees over the past ten years! This is how they make lots of money, dormant accounts that require no billing, no processing, but just pure annual profit in fees, now times that by the tens of thousands of accounts that are open and not used a huge profit for absolutely nothing. You're better to go with your local bank, and ask them if you can cnahge products down the road or renegotiate your fees, most will. I've been successful doing this with RBC, Scotiabank, TD and Canadian Tire. In time as well these companies may lower your rate. (Canadian Tire was a small $700 card at 25.9% , 5 years ago, no fees, and now it's over $11,000 at 11.50%, and still no fees). Stick with a local bank, do a good job of managing your credit, and don't fall for the bait and lock tactics of Capital One. You be in control of your credit, don't leave it to Capital One (also Capital One only allows 20% of your credit line for cash most don't use it, but if you ever had an emergency out of the country, you'll be stuck) the others all make your full line available. If anything with any credit card, make sure you read and understand the fine print, ESPECIALLY the fine print that comes with a Capital One account. A teaser rate now can leave you paying fees for the rest of your credit life!
