Capital One is the biggest and best known for not reporting credit limits to the credit bureaus - making it appear that you owe more (the balance that they report once a month) than what you can spend (since they do not report a credit limit).

Kenneth R. Harney of the Washington Post Writers Group, had an article published in the Chicago Tribune on July 2, 2006 titled: "Credit bureaus' reporting methods come under fire."

This article is an additional resource for this topic.

I've had a different experience with this on a MBNA branded Visa Signature card. There is no pre-set spending limit however there is a separate 'revolving credit access line' amount that MBNA does report to all three credit bureaus as the credit limit. MBNA also tends to be generous in increasing the line if they see you start nipping or exceeding the line periodically. They also report amounts that do exceed this credit line as high credit which can make it look that you are spending outside your means but I�ve only seen this affect my score about 3-5 points and can be mitigated by making a payment before the next statement closes so that the reported balance is below that of the credit line. As with everything, individual mileage may vary.

This is also something to keep in mind for those considering a card with a no-preset spending limit is that the amount you are allowed to spend over the revolving credit line can vary from month-to-month depending on past credit usage and payment history. Any amount over the revolving line is due when the statement closes is due in full plus a little extra if you�re going to let some of the balance sit on the card in order to avoid an over-the-limit fee and maybe an increased APR. It is all buried in the fine print on the pages and pages of literature that accompany the application.

I guess maybe the real question is which credit score gives you the best option for receiving as many 0% offers for 12 months? A low FICO or high FICO?

Rich - I can't imagine a situation where a lower FICO generates more 0% opportunities. With credit scores, as far as I know, higher is always better.

CPA, that may be true in a normal world but we live in an unusual world where getting share value up at any cost is often more imporatant than reality. The reason I think a lower FICO score will get you more offers is because banks know that you will likely default on payment and therefore reap more fees and interest. A high FICO score means you pay your bills on time all the time which means less revenue.

Rich - That's an interesting point. Without having access to a credit card company's database, it's hard to tell if the extra fees/interest on late payers would make up for the extra defaults. If I owned a card company, I would target the 0% for the top 30% of FICOs, and then assume that they would not have the liquid funds at the end of the term to pay off the debt, or that they would mess up and have a payment late by a few days, etc.

Rich - I forgot to mention a real world example. A few months ago my FICO was ~ 775, and I got 0% mailings every other day (literally). Then, I took advantage of about $40,000 dollars worth of offers (to play the arbitrage game), in addition to taking out a car loan and buying a new house, and my FICO is now ~ 701. I only receive a 0% offer maybe once every three weeks. However, this may be due to the fact that I've only been at my new address for a few weeks, and the credit card marketing machine hasn't noticed me yet.