Which card account to close

js78

poormaria wrote: »

No one keeps 12 years account history so I don't see the point in keeping for that long. Your score with the majority of lenders is based on:
How much credit available
How much used
Missed payments

and the new one....

Do you only make the minimum payment?

Personally I'd close the LLoyds, the virgin one may in handy for when you have to balance transfer again.

There is a maximum points score you can have with regards to credit score so as long as you keep it clean you will be fine. Always best not to have too much available though...more chance of fraudsters getting hold of something

Now what makes you think you know better than an underwriter? a person who works for a credit card company? and has done since 1993 when they first opened in the uk??

What he was saying was the START date when you first opened your account so 12 years ago would be 1998/99 the agencies report 6yrs history but they show the start date and end date of any credit agreement.

So if your main bank account was opened 20yrs ago your 1st credit card it doesnt matter if you had opened and close all the rest. Your credit score is determined but an underwriter looks to see stability in terms of length you held your accounts. length on the voters roll rather than someone who has zero history but all accounts opened in the last 18mths.

Age and time are the biggest things in credit. If you 55 own your own home lived there 25yrs had your account opened same length of time, worked at the same employer etc you will be high credit score low risk not really how banks make their money they want people who score slightly lower higher interest rates therefore more profit but at the same time higher risk.

You people don't have a clue!

izools

MacWeeble wrote: »

I've just transferred a balance from a Virgin card to a new card to keep 0% on my balance. My question is which (if any) card accounts should I close? I think I've read that keeping hold of accounts which you've had for a long time can help keep your credit rating high, but having too much available credit can work against you.

I have the following cards which I use day to day:
Barclaycard (4,500 limit), cleared every month
Amex Platinum Cashback (2000 limit), cleared every month

Plus the following:
Lloyds Classic Mastercard (1000 limit, 0 balance, have had for 12 years)
Virgin Mastercard (6500 limit, 0 balance, have had for 15 months)
Natwest Platinum (6000 limit, 5000 balance, new card for 0% BT offer)

Which of the Lloyds or Virgin Card should I close to have the best effect on my credit rating? Or should I be closing both?

Thanks in advance
MW

How long have you held your other accounts for? Lloyds is a tempting one to keep open as it demonstrates great stability and #1,000 won't make a great deal of difference to your overall available credit.

Does Barclaycard offer anything? I would suggest perhaps closing your Barclaycard account and using the Virgin account in it's place.

Keeping the Virgin card going helps show them you have money and increases the likelihood of repeat offers.

The_Boss

MY advice would be to not close your oldest card - keeping this shows stability. While also not closing your newest cards - this can show you are just going for the offers and then closing, which may count against you in future. Some cards are reported to the credit reference agencies along with an indicator of whether your balance was at a promotional rate too, so keeping it outside this period adds some balance.

The_Boss

Just re-read and it seems the oldest is 12 years old, so unlikely this will even be reported - keep it!

MacWeeble

Thanks again everyone. I think I'm probably going to close the Virgin Card and keep the Lloyds one. I'm nervous about keeping the Virgin one as it has such as large limit for a card that's sitting around unused and I think that reducing my available credit by 6.5K and keeping the card that I've had for 12 years would probably leave the best impression on my credit record. Unless anyone has any last minute opinions?

RunnyJam

There is a side issue worth bearing in mind if you are planning to keep a card for use only very very rarely (such as in some kimd of emergency).

I have seen Santander charge people a "Dormancy Fee" !!! If you do not use your credit card for X number of months, you get charged that fee. I appreciate you don't list Santander in your card suppliers and are quite clued up on finance. However I wonder how long it will take fellow banks to jump on this bandwagon-idea of easy money from some trusting unwary card holder.

I have returned the Santander card unused and I have kept other lenders' cards but I have to keep a vigilant eye on any changes of conditions they announce. :eek:

RJ