Is having unused credit cards a "bad" thing?

lisyloo

and said that all the credit available on them would count against me i.e. treated as credit being used, as i could technically use them all

In the past banks lent out lot smore money than they had in the belief that not everyone will use their credit all the time.
Post credit crunch there have been much more stringent requirements on how much banks can lend compared with how much they have.
Also it is more responsible lending as there is nothing stopping you taking it all at once.

The only thing stopping me closing these accoounts is finding out the addresses to contact and writing the letters!

Phone them up.
Numbers easily found on website.
They will put you through to a "rententions" dept to try to persuade you to keep the card, but if you're firm you can get it closed.

Paul_Herring

lisyloo wrote: »

Phone them up.
Numbers easily found on website.

There's generally a geographical number on the back of the cards as well

pauljoecoe

lisyloo wrote: »

-
Phone them up.
Numbers easily found on website.
They will put you through to a "rententions" dept to try to persuade you to keep the card, but if you're firm you can get it closed.

Is it that easy? I have closed a current and savings account recently and I had to go into the branch to sign forms.

I thought s signature would be required - hence a letter rather than phone.

lisyloo

I closed all of mine over the phone without a signature.

Degenerate

Pound wrote: »

I have a few dormant accounts which I need to close but at the moment I have 110% of my net salary available in overdrafts and credit cards.

Lenders may be being more selective about who they lend to, but if you fit the profile they seem as keen to throw money at you as ever. I nearly fell of my chair recently when my application for a Halifax Clarity card came back with a £10K limit. This takes me up to 105% of my gross income.

I suspect that the 50% rule of thumb goes out the window for homeowners with a decent amount of equity and spotless credit history.

lisyloo

Yes, don't forget that nobody actually knows anything so the concensus is simply speculation based on anecdotes.
Individual experiences will vary wildly especially if lenders are cherry picking.

Pound

lisyloo wrote: »

Phone them up.
Numbers easily found on website.
They will put you through to a "rententions" dept to try to persuade you to keep the card, but if you're firm you can get it closed.

Whenever I've cancelled a card they don't even bother to ask me why I'm leaving. Not that it would help because my answer would usually be that the promotional offer they had has ended.

Jigga

Just to add to the discussion, I have eight cards, three of them with a zero balance and one that I use as a spending card. The others are all on 0% deals (all taken as an existing customer). My total available credit is 130% of earnings.

I haven’t applied for any new cards since February as I think it is likely that I would be rejected, but, in August Barclaycard increased my limit from £6k to £9k and just last week RBS increased my limit from £3k to £4k!!!

I am currently only using 39% of my credit but I keep the cards so that I easily shift around to the best deal that is currently being offered, hence for the past couple of years I’ve enjoyed complete 0% deals with just the BT fees to pay.

So, ‘is unused credit a bad thing?’ As with all financial matters, depends upon your circumstances, what your objectives are and what you intend to do in the future.

Paul_Herring

Currently I have 3 cards; Egg, Amex and Sainsbury's. Limit of all is just above 50% of my gross salary (before salary sacrifice, just below 50% after.) Amex and Egg are little used at the moment - I'm considering cancelling both of them. All cards are currently paid in full (no current offers on them for holding credit on them.)

With that in mind, my last application for a card (Tesco) produced a piddling #800 (eight hundred, not eight thousand) limit on their 0% for purchases for 12 months. I declined their rather kind offer. That limit would get used up in under a month.

NickX

Paul_Herring wrote: »

my last application for a card (Tesco) produced a piddling #800 (eight hundred, not eight thousand) limit on their 0% for purchases for 12 months. I declined their rather kind offer. That limit would get used up in under a month.

I'd have used that limit myself - I know £800 is pretty poor for seasoned stoozers, but whats the old saying? "Every little helps"