Should I cancel old credit cards before applying for a new one?

rossyl

Hi,

I've got the following Credit Cards (all with £0 balance):
- Amex (£3,500 limit)
- Nationwide (£2,000 limit)
- Easyjet (£500 limit) (not used for 1 year)
- HSBC (£2,000 limit) (not used for 2 years)
- Egg - no idea. (not used for 4 years)

I would like to apply for the Tesco Credit card with 13 months interst free and get as much money on that as possible.

I earn over £50k, and am a home owner. BUT I have had late payments charges occasionally on my credit card (through poor management), and I have gone over my bank account overdraft limit a few times (due to poor management again ).

Not sure what the end result would be in terms of credit limit given?

Thanks,
R

BugsyBrowne

With late payments and poor management skills you best keep to your cards you have now as another prime card will not take you on with late payments.

Scaredy_Cat_3

When a credit card company is deciding whether to give you an account, and if so what limit to give you, they do look at how much availability you have elsewhere. So they could feel that you have sufficient exposure to credit already (even if you're not using that credit, you could if you wanted to). So in theory it might be a good idea to close one or two, but I would suspect you then need to wait a few months for your credit file to settle down.

I've heard the above but I'm not entirely sure how much I believe it. Personally I have some credit cards that I've had for decades and some have quite high limits (I had them back in the days when they did increase your limit automatically), and I've applied for new credit cards in the last few months and been accepted without problems. However, I think the new limits were fairly low, probably less than 1k. Can't remember, I only applied to get a promotional offer and cancelled within a few months).

I think it's more important to make sure your accounts have been run correctly for a period of months - might be an idea to set up a direct debit for at least the minimum payment if you have a tendency to forget when your payment is due. At least that wya you will avoid fees and your credit file will show prompt payments.

rossyl

I've only had a few late payments, one was last month. The previous one was over a year ago.

Is it still worth waiting a month or so?

Also, i still feel a bit unclear over whether i should cancel my current credit cards.

All help much aprpeciated.

Thanks

BugsyBrowne

Keep the card you have had the longest as it will look better for lenders,you need to wait b4 for your late payments to fall off b4 applying for another mainstream card as they will not accept you.

If you don't use any of your cards maybe think about getting rid of 3 or 4 of them.

Cavan28

You havent used Egg, Easyjet or HSBC for years so why wouldnt you cancel them? You obviously have no need for them. The other two cards with £5.5k combined credit will cater for an unforseen emergencies. My two pence worth (for what its worth) ..................... cancel Egg, Easyjet and HSBC then wait a month or so for credit file to sort itself out, then apply for your tesco card, good luck!

tescomilk

rossyl wrote: »

I've only had a few late payments, one was last month. The previous one was over a year ago.

Is it still worth waiting a month or so?

Also, i still feel a bit unclear over whether i should cancel my current credit cards.

All help much aprpeciated.

Thanks

If I was you I would just apply now anyway.

That is as long as you haven't made any other credit applications recently? If you have a late payment a month ago then this will cause some damage, although all the other accounts will show in order.

The reason why I say apply now is because you will only have to wait 6 months anyway for the late payment to be less harmful (and any other accounts you decide to close/settle and update correctly). By then todays Tesco credit search won't impact and you will be able to apply again should you get rejected.

Good Luck :money: let us know how you get on

rossyl

Thank yoou all SOO much.

One last question, which will impacy heavily, is how long do Tesco normally take to approve?

I will only need the card in a month or so, so can wait to apply till then.

Unless the deal is ending shortly, in which case I will apply now.

Thank you all again.

BugsyBrowne

If you do it online its instant yes or no,which in your case think it will be a no as the first thing they will see that you have £8000 available to you,and also you are not even using your cards either, which will also have a negative effect..

tescomilk

rossyl wrote: »

One last question, which will impacy heavily, is how long do Tesco normally take to approve?

I will only need the card in a month or so, so can wait to apply till then.

Unless the deal is ending shortly, in which case I will apply now.
.

As far as I am aware Tesco seem to be have the 0% offer ongoing and you will be given an Instant Decision online. One thing to point out it says:

"Please note there is a 2.9% fee on all balance transfers made during the first 9 months from account opening."

So if you are thinking of transferring balances take this in to account too

rossyl

Thanks, I won't be transferring a balance. All my cards are at £0. :j