how long do foot prints last?

mlz1413

I thought i'd be clever with my money last year, I was buying a run down ex-rented terraced house to do up, the funding came from turning my exsisting home into a buy-to-let so releasing the equity, I put the equity into a high interest account and bought everything for the run-down house on a 0% interest with cashback credit card.

When this card came to an end I got applied for another 0% card, I didn't get the limit I wanted so I applied for another 0% card, this also had a low limit but between the two I was fine, then 6 months later, Jan 06, I applied for another 0% card to be turned down, so applied for another and was turned down again. At this point I applied to Experian for my credit history.

My credit history shows I've always paid and I don't have any bad info, but I've created loads of footprints (I hadn't realised how many until I saw it in print!). I've got the money to pay off the c/c balances, but my questions is can I do anything about the footprints?

I'm happy to cancel the bulk of the cards and leave myself with one card, but how long will it be until I can get credit again? My main concern is that by summer I may need another £2,000 to finish the house off and i'm not sure I will be able to get a loan or low rate credit card.

I realise now I was being greedy of the sake of interest and cashback, but I earned £200 doing it so got a bit carried away.

Help!

Michelle

grumbler

Your Credit Rating: How they decide and how you find out for free

http://www.stoozing.com/credscore.htm

Footprints (searches) stay on your files for 12 months, although after about 6 months they almost don't affect new applications.
The other important factor is total credit available as compared to your annual income.

See also: Should I cancel old credit cards?