what should i do with empty accounts?

mildred1978

hi there everyone. i'm a long time lurker looking for some advice about my stoozing and the cards i have.

i've been stoozing against my offset mortgage and am now in a position where i need to work out my next steps. i've detailed my accounts below.

BANK

---

LIMIT

---

BALANCE

---

APR

---

NOTES

Virgin

---

£6100

---

£zero

---

N/A

---

did long term balance transfer and kept the card afterwards
Tesco (RBS)

---

£4900

---

£3873

---

0%

---

until Jan 2010
Barclaycard

---

£6300

---

£4292

---

0%

---

until Nov 2009
First Direct

---

£7000

---

£6840

---

0%

---

slow stooze (purchases) till Oct 2009
Egg Money

---

£4500

---

£3000

---

7.9%

---

monthly spends paid in full each month
Egg Card

---

£2000

---

£zero

---

0%

---

till Oct 2010 (new, not yet BT)

i seem to have hit the limit of credit available to me............. about the same as my annual gross salary. so what should i do? next month i'll be paying off the first direct card. that card will be redundant, as the virgin card is now. i want to keep some available credit just in case/emergencies/car on way out etc but i think having too much means that i'm going to be rejected for any other 0% deals (happened once this weekend).

so which accounts should i keep and which should i close? do virgin customers ever get repeat offers?

thanks in advance

milly

mildred1978

25+ views but no replies? can't anybody help?

Moggles_2

Do Virgin customers ever get repeat offers?

Absolutely. I'd think twice before closing that one.

IMO, you have to treat each credit card on its own merits. Some card companies (eg. Egg, Virgin) have regular, follow-on offers and Virgin will even waive BT fees sometimes, if you're prepared to negotiate over the phone. Others (eg. First Direct) reserve their best deals for new applicants. You may as well close that one, tbh

Moggles_2

Note: some lenders will not consider applications from former cardholders for various periods following closure.

In the case of Egg, it's 12 months. The Royal Bank of Scotland stable (which includes Lombard Direct, Mint, NatWest, Tesco & Ulster Bank, as well as RBS itself) makes former customers wait 8 months following closure of one of its cards. so closing your Tesco account might reduce your choice of new cards for a while

Btw, it's advisable to check your credit reports to make certain the account was actually closed down and marked "settled" soon after the date you cancelled before you re-apply.

mildred1978

Moggles wrote: »

Absolutely. I'd think twice before closing that one.

IMO, you have to treat each credit card on its own merits. Some card companies (eg. Egg, Virgin) have regular, follow-on offers and Virgin will even waive BT fees sometimes, if you're prepared to negotiate over the phone. Others (eg. First Direct) reserve their best deals for new applicants. You may as well close that one, tbh

Thank you :beer:

how do I find out about the virgin offers? Card has been paid off for a year and not had anything I'll keep the egg card for the cash back ;-)

I bank with first direct i assume I'd be able to reapply at some point in the future?

Moggles_2

mildred1978 wrote: »

How do I find out about the Virgin offers?

Have you registered your details on the Virgin website?
When you click on *summary*, promotions are listed on the right-hand side
of your screen

Moggles_2

I bank with First Direct. I assume I'd be able to reapply at some point in the future?

Yes, indeed.

splatt30

You may have an offer open with Virgin already.
I am stoozing on my Virgin card at the moment, fixed monthly direct debit so don't normally bother checking the statement (which is paperfree). However, for some reason the other week I did and sat there under 'Promotions' was another 0% balance transfer offer. After some quick calculations, for me it wasn't worth it, mainly as I was concerned that with two 0%s finishing 2 months apart then I might somehow get stung.

As you have nothing on the Virgin card at the moment why not give them a call and look at moving one that ends soon. Obviously provided the sums add up!

mildred1978

Moggles wrote: »

Have you registered your details on the Virgin website?
When you click on *summary*, promotions are listed on the right-hand side
of your screen

I reregistered last night and under *promotions* it said to call them. There are no promotional offers on my account, and there haven't been since I cleared the card in December 08. The man said that the accounts are reviewed every 3-6 months but there was no guarantee any offers would ever apply to any specific accounts

Mildred1978_2

Me again (forgot my password for my other account )

I've updated the information and really need some advice.

mildred1978 wrote: »

BANK

---

LIMIT

---

BALANCE

---

APR

---

NOTES

Virgin

---

£6100

---

£zero

---

N/A

---

did long term balance transfer and kept the card afterwards
Tesco (RBS)

---

£4900

---

£3200ish

---

0%

---

until May 2010 About to be paid off
Barclaycard

---

£[STRIKE]6300[/STRIKE]8100

---

£3000ish

---

0%

---

until April 2010 About to be paid off
[STRIKE]First Direct

---

£7000

---

£6840

---

0%

---

slow stooze (purchases) till Oct 2009[/STRIKE] paid off and card cancelled
Egg Money

---

£4500

---

£3000

---

7.9%

---

monthly spends paid in full each month
Egg Card

---

£2000

---

£1700

---

0%

---

till Oct 2010 [STRIKE](new, not yet BT)[/STRIKE]

I'm still close to my annual gross salary in terms of available credit, but much of it isn't used and without any juicy 0% offers aren't doing me any good at all.

still no sign of an offer from virgin so I can't see any point in keeping this any longer. thinking of applying for another mbna card. should i do that before or after closing the virgin card? i'll cancel the barclaycard and tesco cards unless there's any point in keeping them?

i can apply for another first direct card in may (and i will).

any other options or ideas for me?

thanks in advance

milly

CannyJock

Get another MBNA card and transfer the limit across. If you want a repeat on Virgin, start spending on it and clearing each month - needs some activity to grease the promotional wheels.

Egg Money's a keeper - cashback and mule.

Tesco isn't part of RBS any more, but they do work on the same systems. You can always try for an RBS backed card. My Tesco 0% purchase card is kept maxed out, think I'll be cancelling once promotion ends, not heard of any repeats on it.

Santander Zero is another one, but open a current account first for the 0% BT fee and be prepared for the application process from hell.

Barclaycard I've never had any luck with on repeats, but others have recently reported decent results I seem to remember.

No HBOS cards in your deck?