credit cards - to cancel or not to cancel and which ones

anna42hmr

i have been meaning to do it for sometime, however i am considering cancelling some of my credit cards, i generally have no balence on most of them, the cards i have are as follows:

mint (4800 limit, 0 balence)
halifax (4700 limit, 0 balence)
mbna VIP (6900 limit, £200 balence - mbna are closing this account any way)
nationwide card (6100 limit, 0 balence)
natwest (£1800 limit, 0 balence)
Lloyds due (£ 3000 limit £90 balence,)
egg (origional card not egg money £3100 limit, 0 balence)
Capital one card (£6000 limit, £2000 balence- 0%)

so in total i currently have 8 cards, (though as mbna are no longer working with live nation to provide the vip card, that account is being cancelled as of the end of the month anyway, so thats been taken out of my hands) all of which have been got over the years for various 0% deals

which ones would you cancel and how many of them?? i will definatly keep nationwide for 0% foreign transactionsand lloyds duo for airmiles (especially as i have just had to change all my online payments to this card that usually go on the mbna card) capital one is on a 0% deal into well into next year and pay a fixed amount each month so that leaves as possible cancellations:

mint
halifax
natwest
egg

would you cancel all of these four or would you recommend keeping one of more of these as well as the ones above, i am concerned with the current credit crunch etc that if i cancel i will leave myself at risk at later date of being rejected if i need a new card? but at the same time am i opening up to rejections as too much available credit?

will it look negative on my credit history for cancelling several cards in one go? at the moment my availability vs credit used is very good ratio but if i cancel some of these cards, the ratio would be reduced, would that look negative?? i feel like its a catch 22 situation

i also have savings accounts with a couple of the companies of the cards i am considering cancelling, should that affect my decion (ie egg, natwest) would it be easier reapplying in a couple years time if it needs be as i have savings accounts with them? also would they look negativly on an application down the line when i ahve already had one of their cards and cancelled??

i have never missed payments etc so my credit rating as per experien etc is apparently good

anna42hmr

thinking more on it, i am considering cancelling 3 of the cards, leaving me with 5 in total (over 4 credit agreements, as lloyds has 2 cards), do you think this would still be too many?

this would mean i would have
1 visa cards (nationwide)
3 mastercards (cap1, halifax and lloyds duo card)
1 american express card? (lloyds duo card)

and would mean my overall card credit limits will be cut from £36400 to £19800? would this look too much a cut of available limits?

TrickyDicky

It would be best to assess how much credit you actually need. All of that unused credit is going to count against you if you try and get a new morgage, insurance, loan, credti agreement, hire purchase because in theory, that would be a lot of debt to be in if you suddenly maxed everything out. All assosors will always assume the worst possible case. They also look at the payment history for any missed payments.

Work out how much of a limit you actually need, and then cancel enough cards down to that level. The most important factors for assessment from companies:

Good payment history (no history of missed payments, defaults or CCJs)
Total current debt
Max potential debt.

The 2 debt options are also offset by your salary.

So basically - You're a more likely a higher scorer if you have low limit credit card that is paid each month (and have been for a long time), and you earn a good income. Plus make sure you're on the electoral roll.

sarahs999

I'm in the same position. If it were me., I would keep the egg card, as they have that deal where you get another 0% balance transfer four years after you got it, don't they? Also isn't it a good card for stoozing (not that I do that so someone please correct me if I'm wrong)? I recently got turned down (well, actually a different card offered, but same thing really) for the first tiem ever for a card and I'm sure it's because I've got too much credit available.

anna42hmr

thanks for the replies i appreciate it, those are good ideas, i have cancelled the mint and natwest ones so far this morning, i dont think i qualify for the 5 months 0% balence transfer on opening on the egg account any more as i think that expired for me last year (i remember them saying something about it, ive had the egg card for about 7 years, as i have had the halifax one)

so its now between the halifax and egg card for now, as to which other one i cancel this afternoon, (that will leave me with 5 cards on 4 accounts - because lloyds send 2 cards for the duo account) i may cancel another one or two in a months time or so

i definatly cant give up cap 1 as 0%, and natiionwide as free to use abroad,

isnt it amazing though when you want to cancel cards, they suddenly offer this deal or x interest rate lol!

sarahs999

I know - I'm hoping that will happen to me, so I'm going to wait until my next 0% card is running out of time to cancel some zero balance ones nad see what they can offer me.

anna42hmr

sarahs999 wrote: »

I know - I'm hoping that will happen to me, so I'm going to wait until my next 0% card is running out of time to cancel some zero balance ones nad see what they can offer me.

i was considering that but new it would get me a get out clause so i dont have to pay the cap 1 off next september, this way i know it will be paid in full by the end of the 0% deal as ive locked it away so dont add anything onto it and pay a set amount off each month

anna42hmr

i decided to close the egg one as my third card

for anyone interested, after cancellation you can apply for a new mint or natwest card after 9 months and egg after 12 months

does anyone know who long it will be before they are marked "settled" on the credit file?? i was thinking about a month or two would this be right, and their payment history will be for about 6 years isnt it?

anna42hmr

bump, does any one know how long it will be for them to be marked as settled on experien, equifax etc?? if i check my reports the end of next month should they be showing up by then??

edit

just thought i would call the card companys to check they have been cancelled as per my request, natwest i know has done as they sent me a letter and egg have sent me an online message so i knew i didnt need to call them, good job i called mint though, they have no "record" of the card being requested being cancelled, i confirmed the date time and who i spoke to and she apologised and said she would send an email to the cancellations team to cancel from monday and i will get a call in a couple days to confirm this, hope they do it this time, i really cant be doing with calling credit card companies to keep chasing!