Pay off debts or leave for longer to recover credit score?

cheekychappy

I am in the fortunate position of being able to clear all mine and my wife's credit cards following a windfall, but have a question...
Am I better off clearing all the balances and closing the accounts down or leaving a tiny amount in them and pay off minimum balance so that when they are closed down, the odd few one month late payments drop off from the Experian records.
The reason I ask this is that I am intending moving house and want to be in the best possible position to get the mortgage approved.

niccatw

I'd be iclined to pay them all off and close all but one of them. and set up a direct debit to pay the balance in full each month on the one you keep open. That way, it's there if you need it. It also mea you have less collective debt which surely would only help when applying for a mortgage.

Experian_company_representative

Pay them all off but keep open any that have late payments in the status history. That way the late payments will disappear within three years instead of six.

James Jones