can you cancel credit cards if you have paid them off

jules1973

Hi, I am planning to pay all my cards off as soon as we get a compensation settlement. Could be anytime from now until May before we can. Can we cancel our cards, thus rejecting rate rises. Is there any limit on time you have to pay them off.

Sorry that title should read if you HAVEN'T paid them off...

bottleofred

Hi jules,

As far as I know, you can reject interest rate rises on credit cards as long as you continue to make the regular minimum payment & don't use them. Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me will be along soon though to confirm this or offer better advice.

mdr86

Have you looked at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/credit-card-interest-rate-increases? Step 3 is the important bit.
Basically, lenders have to give you 30 days notice of rate increases, and you have 60 days from that notice to reject the rate rise, at which point the card can no longer be spent on, and the rate is the same until it's paid off. So there's nothing to do for now, but if you are given notice of a rate rise, you can then reject it. I think you have a 'reasonable length of time' to pay it off, so if you've been making min. repayments up till now, you should be able to continue to do so. The page I linked to has a bit more info.

lvm

Just read this and thought I'd just say...definitely reject any rate rises but don't be too hasty about cancelling your cards. You may need them in emergency sometime and it's always handy to use your credit cards and pay off in full every month just to keep some ongoing credit.

ivory1970uk

Hi, I have myself been in the situation where a credit card company has tried to increase my rate and I have sent them in writting a letter saying I want to stick to the old rate and have destroyed the card. They have wriitten to me to say as long as the minimum payment is made the rate will stay the same and after the account is paid off it will then be closed.

Also you can pay off your debt and in writting inform the company or companies involved you wish to cancel the card.

If you are paying of a loan, make sure there are no early settlement charges and if so you will need to way this up with the interest you are paying. Ask the company for a settlement figure and they will give you a date to which this figure is valid.

Hope this helps.