I imagine a lot of readers are applying for Capital One credit cards because of the announcement that miles will be transferable to airline partners at a 2:1.5 rate sometime in December and because of the following increased bonuses:
- Capital One Spark Cash $2,000 Signup Bonus & Spark Miles 200,000 Signup Bonus (6% Back)
- Capital One Venture 75,000 Point Sign Up Bonus (Worth $750 Or 56,250 Airline Miles)
One of the downsides to applying for a Capital One card is that they pull your credit report from all three nationwide consumer reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian & TransUnion). Our advice in general has been that it’s possible to freeze one or more of these reports and still get approved. I thought it would be useful to collect some information/datapoints on what has/hasn’t been working.
Keep in mind just because you’re application has been denied, it does not mean it was denied due to a frozen report. If you are denied you’ll receive a notice of adverse action, this will state the denial reason. If it’s for something like a frozen report it will state something such as:
Based on your credit report from <Experian/TransUnion/Equifax>, credit bureau information is missing or unavailable
Another common denial reason is:
Based on your credit report from <Experian/TransUnion/Equifax>, there are too many new accounts
For the purposes of this post we are only interested in your data point if you received the first (information is missing) denial reason. The second reason has to do with new accounts and is talked about here. Onto the data points:
Note there are also some older data points found in this post.
I was deniedfor the Venture card because my Experian credit report was “unavailable.” I had frozen it using the experian app based on information posted that you could get approved without the experian report. Now I have unfrozen my Experian report for their reconsideration dept.
Approved for the Venture card. Never have card utilization as I pay off credit cards before statement close. 9/24. 720 FICO. Had to send in a ton of documents, ID verification, Income verification of parents, mailing address verification, etc. No prior history with Capital One. No current employment as I am currently in medical school.
Hello. Need an information. Any datapoint on only freezing TU (have 6 already) and applying for a credit card? I live in IL.
denied with 835 FICO. 10 new accounts but 2-3 are auto/mortgage. Did not get a pre qualified offer…was shown “average” credit card offers only such as Qs1 and Plat. CreditWise showed average under new accounts for 10 or more accounts. only 3-4 inquiries – mostly auto/mortgage. I have a feeling that if either inquiries or accounts shows as ‘average’ on TU creditwise report (free as a Capital One customer), you will not get approved. I will wait the 7-10 days and try to recon somehow…
Do you get a commission if we use your links? I’d like to help since I read your blog daily and it has helped a bunch!
No we don’t use credit card affiliate links to remain unbiased
Keep in mind that Cap One is the inverse of all the other major credit card issuers. The higher your score, the more likely you will be denied. They want subprime borrowers who carry balances. They sue those in default more than all of the other banks combined.
They will approve some prime borrowers to keep their portfolio a little nicer, but mostly only those without many other cards open. If you have been in the game for a while, you are basically begging for 3 hard pulls for nothing. You want to get Cap one cards early in your churning life then forget about them.
Where do I apply
Idiots at Capital One didn’t even bother to instruct me on how to unfreeze the reports for them. Guess they don’t want my 830 FICO business .
They should get a job at a government agency. They’d be good at getting nothing done
Also worth noting that CrapOne business card balances will show up on your personal credit report even if you apply with a corp/llc and EIN.
What I think would be interesting is how reliable are the Cap1 prequals.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/view-personalized-credit-card-offers/
If you’re pre-approved/pre-qualified for a Cap1 card, is it likely they’ll give you the card?
If you’re not pre-approved/pre-qualified for a Cap1 card, is it likely they’ll reject you?
My experience is yes to both, and that the Cap1 pre-qual page is a pretty strong indicator one way or the other (which can’t be said for many other issuers). It would be good to have DPs for this.