Question
I have had this Capital One credit card for about seven years. It is not points or miles earning as I got it several years before I got involved in FT and all the miles/points chasing. :D
There is an yearly membership fee of $39. Every year I call and ask them to waive the fee, they say they can not but they will reduce it by half. So I have been fine with that. I use this card occasionally, although I prefer my Amex Rewards card.
So while I am not one of their best customers (carrying a high balance on the card from month to month) I have been a long-time customer who has had an occasional high balance that has been carried over at least 2-3 months.
Anyways, about a month ago my membership fee came due. I called to ask them to waive it like I normally do. At the time they said they could not do that and they did not offer "pay 1/2 of the fee" as they normally do. I finally asked about that and was told they could not do that.
I called back about five minutes later and ask them the same thing again (waive the $39 fee). Once again, was told no but this time was offerred the 1/2 membership fee. I was happy with that and said ok.
I then sent in payment on the card for 1/2 of the $39.
About two weeks later, I received a check for $19.95 from Capital One. I thought that was odd, as this would mean I was not charged any membership fee whatsoever. I went online to check out my account and could not log in, because of "system upgrades". I tried again the next day, same thing. Third day, I tried and still couldn't get in and then decided to call.
I spoke with someone and she said that my account had been closed and that there was a note saying that I had requested my account be closed.
I told her that this was not the case, I had not requested that my account be closed. She apologized and said that she would have it re-activated right away. I assumed everything was ok. That was about two weeks ago.
Just today I went online to take a look at my account. I could not log in due to those "system upgrades". I called immediately and trying to get around their phone menu (I did not mention this earlier) but it is pretty tough when you have a canceled account to actually talk to a human being (even if they are in India).
I finally got ahold of Leo or Leon at Capital One. And asked why my account was still deactivated. He said that there was a note on my account saying that I had requested that it be deactivated. I told him that I had not requested that and that infact I had called about two weeks ago for this same situation and the person I spoke with said that my account would be reactivated immediately. He said that as of Sept 20, 2004 any account with a zero balance that is cancelled by the card holder can not be reactivated immediately but has to go through a re-application which takes 12-17 business days. He said that I should have a decision on my re-application within a few days. Needless to say I was a bit upset. One, I never cancelled my account, they did. Two, I don't want to re-apply for a yearly fee no miles/points card because it would show as an application on my credit report and three now that I know about FT I would only apply for a miles/points card. The only real reason why I would want to keep this card is because I have had it for seven years (long term credit looks better on credit reports, etc).
Anyways, I told him some of the above (they cancelled it, not me) and that I did not want to "re-apply". He told me he was going to check with his manager and that he would put me on hold for two minutes at the most. After seven minutes (I timed it) he came back and said his manager confirmed what he had said and that there was no way to just re-open the account.
I again told him that I did not want to "re-apply". He got a bit huffy and told me that was the only way for me to get an account with Capital One. I told him no thanks. As he said his closing line, "Thank you for calling CapOne, is there anything else I can help you with." I replied, "Yeah, right... you want to help me?!"
Not the nicest thing I know.
So what do you all suggest?
Do I try to pursue this or do I drop it?
If I pursue it do you have any suggestions?
The requirements being... I don't want to re-apply. I want the same account I have had for seven years. I am somewhat willing to pay the $39 membership fee. I would definately pay the $19.95 1/2 membership fee.
Answer
Why do you even want to keep this card? $39 a year and you are not even getting any rewards?
I have one of these Rewards Captial One Cards (http://apply2.capitalone.com/8729/13-760/index.jsp?c=CardProd&s=08729013760XXCO31XX1GOMLS2XXXX&t=ad) . Only $19 a year so you don't have to call to get it lowered every year. Current rate looks like it is 9.9% (mine is only 7.9%), and the airlines rewards are truely hassle free.
Answer
I don't see why you want to keep it either. It's one thing to keep a no-fee card with no rewards, but there's no reason to pay a fee for a non-reward card unless you have particularly blemished credit somehow. I don't think this is the case because you talk about having at least one other card.
My own personal limited experience with Cap One is that they need to put a "R" in their name (Crap One). I tried to get a 0% for a year teaser rate card from them, and they denied me. So I took my good credit to someone else and got the same thing (Discover, in my case).
Just drop it. There is one small bad consequence of not having it anymore: the length of time accounts are open is a factor in determining credit scores. Thus, you have lost a somewhat old account ("trade line" in the lingo of credit reports). But unless you are in the middle of buying/refinancing a home at this moment or about to do so soon, or have very little other outstanding credit, this probably won't matter except for in the very short run. Besides, the fact that Crap One calls it "reapplying" may well mean they won't report it as 7-year history anyway! Argh! For more info than you ever wanted to know about this stuff, try http://www.creditboards.com/
Answer
Why do you even want to keep this card? $39 a year and you are not even getting any rewards?
I have one of these Rewards Captial One Cards (http://apply2.capitalone.com/8729/13-760/index.jsp?c=CardProd&s=08729013760XXCO31XX1GOMLS2XXXX&t=ad) . Only $19 a year so you don't have to call to get it lowered every year. Current rate looks like it is 9.9% (mine is only 7.9%), and the airlines rewards are truely hassle free.
I have a Capital One card and it is not a "truly hassle free" card. I live in western Kansas and the regional airline that services our local community with codeshare agreements through to Denver and Kansas City does not qualify for me to redeem for a free ticket despite Capital One's own "terms and conditions" that state "any US-base airline."
The airline in question is Great Lakes Airline. It's US-based and works with United and Frontier. How can Capital One do that when it goes against their own terms and conditions?
Answer
I also had a bad experience with capital one, and if I can influence even one person to cancel their capitalone card I will have a better day.
Answer
My experience with Capital One has been abysmal. Never been late, signed up for 9.99 rate, four months later rate jumped to 19.9 and when I called to complain I was told that it was an underwriting change in my area. I paid it off and cancelled that day.
If you reactivate your account, CapitalOne will pull a new credit bureau inquiry and that may depress your credit score with Experian or Equifax slightly.
Up to you, but you may want to check out comments on Planet Feedback about CapitalOne before you sign back up with them.