Consumer complaint received 2022-02-24
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: MN
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card
Sub-issue: Credit card company won't increase or decrease your credit limit

Complaint:
I opened my Capital One XXXX  credit card on or around XX/XX/XXXX, when my credit score and credit history were poorer than they are today. Since opening the credit card, I have requested numerous credit limit increases and I have been denied for each and every single one. These denials have certainly been automated, and no human has ever looked at the credit limit request ; each denial is system-generated and automated in nature. I was able to speak to a Capital One customer service representative about this concern in late XXXX or early XX/XX/XXXX, and I was told by her that there is no such thing as a manual review process for credit limit increases with this card -- all reviews are system-generated and there is absolutely no way for a human to intervene. The representative advised me to continue using the card for purchases -- thus incurring fees and interest that would financially benefit Capital One -- and continue making on-time payments. In the nine months since I've had the credit card, I have never been late ; I have made well above the minimum payments required ; I use the card a few times a month ; I sometimes pay off the balance in full within a day or two of using the card ; and I have met every single condition that each of the attached credit limit increase denial letters states. The attached denial letters constantly change in what's expected of me to receive a credit limit increase : first the account was too new, so I waited and requested again at the XXXX and XXXX mark ; after that, the denial reasons were that there were too many inquiries reported to Capital One by their monthly soft pull of my credit reports ; then I am told that I am mot using my current credit limit enough, even though this particular reason is entirely false. On top of this, my credit score and credit history have improved drastically since I was initially approved for the credit card in or around XX/XX/XXXX, and the additional inquiries for which I am being denied the credit limit increase have absolutely no bearing on my creditworthiness with Capital One nor how exponentially my overall credit worthiness has improved since I opened this credit card. Despite all of my excellent payment history with this card, excellent card usage, meeting all the so-called requirements that Capital One 's own representatives and written denial letters have advised me to meet, and now having even better creditworthiness than when I was approved for the card nearly one year ago, I am continually denied a credit limit increase for various reasons that change each time I request a credit limit increase. That said, since no human can intervene to review credit limit increase requests, and I am meeting the requirements each time the denial reasons arbitrarily change, this is abusive, unfair and deceptive to me as a consumer who is using this credit card responsibly and with excellent payment history. In summary, I believe Capital One is knowingly using abusive, unfair and deceptive credit and lending practices to routinely deny my credit limit increase requests, despite my outstanding payment history with them and other creditors and meeting their requirements each time I receive a denial letter. I believe Captial One is penalizing me and retaliating against me because I am paying off my balances, in full, before they can accrue any interest and make money for Capital One. I also can not be reasonably expected to max out my current credit line just to prove I am responsible with the card -- because here again, doing so would almost guarantee that maxing out my credit limit would mean I incur interest charges, which in turn mean money for Capital One. Because I refuse to pay interest charges and other fees that are not required of me, Capital One is taking negative, adverse action against me by denying my credit limit increase requests. Also of note is that Capital One offered me an " upgrade '' from my XXXX account to their Quicksilver card, in XXXX. Why would Capital One offer this upgrade -- to further deceive and mislead me into products that benefit only them? If my XXXX account were not performing well or I was not using it well enough, would they still offer this upgrade? This upgrade, to me, says I must be doing something right, but because I will not pay interest or unnecessary fees, I am not making Capital One money and thus they give false reasons for denying me credit line increases.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation