Advice Required

ccf_2

I have 9 credit cards with a combined available credit of about £34,500, my salary is £21,000.

Will this have a negative effect on my credit rating? I am wanting to get the AMEX or Visa cashback card.

Out of the 10 I only use 3 cards, I have had one of the cards for over 10 years but dont really use it, am I better reducing the credit limit down to £500 or something as I have heard you should keep your oldest cards open?

Venusflytrap

Stating the obvious here but: Your available credit is over 150% of your income. That you are already overstretched is putting it mildly.

I do not see any responsible lender extending another credit line to you. Also, having ten credit cards - why do you want another?

I would advise that you go through your existing CC mound with a fine tooth comb and weed out the ones you don't use, need or know why you got in the first place! Close these down,wait a couple of months for your credit report to update/show reduced available credit (preferably well below your income) before going for the AMEX cash back or any other CC.

bengalknights

If you only use 3 cards then close the other 7 accounts wait 6-9 months and then do your new applications.

ironlady2022

Agree, you need to close the 7 cards that you don't use in order to free up 'credit'. I have gone from full to part time and my limits are over my yearly income but I do not intend to apply for more credit. I will close necessary cards when I need credit in the future and do it well in time. No point of keeping your longest cards open if you do not use them. The 3 cards that you do use, if you pay on time every month will show that you are a good payer BUT wait a few months before applying for a fresh one.

ccf_2

plan to close:

HBOS Classic (Held from 2001)
RBS
Santander
Barclaycard (held from 2002)

and reduce the rest of my card limits to bring the available income down to £14000.

Will it have any effect closing my two oldest cards?

Is there any benifits to the cards I plan to close?

ironlady2022

It can only have a good effect. On the otherhand you still have 66% ratio limit to income so it's still rather high and having 6 cards is still a lot. Even after doing this I doubt Amex will accept you. Why are you so reluctant to reduce the number of credit cards down to 3 as there the ones you use? In my eyes not using a line of credit is sen as negative in this case. Amex will be thinking you only use 3/6 cards anyway why bother with a 7th?

chattychappy

mayling03 wrote: »

Amex will be thinking you only use 3/6 cards anyway why bother with a 7th?

Well, the OP racked up 10 cards, so presumably numbers 7, 8, 9 and 10 could also have had similar worries but didn't. If the OP was running balances on more than 3 of them at the time, then perhaps that would have been even worse - but he still got accepted.

Not saying I disagree with the gist of the recommendations in this thread, but I've always had an existing total available credit well in excess of my annual income when applying for new cards and not had a problem. I've currently got 9 cards open. (Was 11.)

Though I think it's a slightly negative factor, I feel that your actual outstanding balance, % usage (if high) and only paying minimums are more significant factors (along with the obvious stuff of no missed payments, on the roll etc).

jon_boy75

aren't you much more exposed to fraud with so many cards? I wouldn't feel comfortable having so many open accounts, but that's just me

*Scarlett

I am in a similar position as regards to the number of cards / available credit and am considering getting rid of some.

This has come about due to opening new cards over the years for promotional rates, balance transfers and even because I liked the colour of the card!

As jon_boy75 says, you may not be monitoring all of these cards and you may be more exposed to fraudulent activity as I found out this week. I was contacted by my bank to advise that the card that I hold with them had been used in USA for a small transaction of $4. My bank advised that it is often the case that the fraudsters will try to put through a small amount before making a large transaction. I have not used this card for years and have no idea how the details were compromised (the bank have now cancelled and replaced it).

Having said all that, the number of cards does not seem to have impacted my ability to get credit. I haven't applied for any new credit cards recently but have had a loan of £8k approved by 2 companies (only accepted one!) within the last couple of months.

I'm not a high earner - I work part-time - but I do pay all bills on time for at least the minimum amount and sometimes in full.

I am definitely considering closing some of the cards that I don't use now but I also worry that they may not accept me again and as long as there is no charge for the card it's not costing me anything.

Pheebs67

I would look at it the other way around; Why have you got 10 open credit cards if you're not using them? What's the point? Even if you reduce the CL's on many of them down to £500 . . . what's the point in that? Having a £500 CL on a credit card is nigh on useless (to me - obviously this is just my perspective) . . . and having several £500 cards would just be plain confusing to keep track of if you're using them all . . .

I had 3 credit cards and recently closed 1 leaving just 2.

One of them I use all the time because it gives me cashback - so I use it like a debit card and pay it off in full. The other is with my bank and is my 'emergency' card just in case I'm stood in the supermarket/a-n-other shop and my primary card is lost/stolen or declined for some reason (happened a couple of times when I've been subject to fraud).

The 3rd card I only opened for a long 0% BT for stoozing purpose and I closed it in March when the teaser ran out.

The 2 cards I have left are more than sufficient to buy anything I'd ever want (and can afford).


I'd rather keep them closed and be eligible to 'new customer' offers personally rather than sit on a heap of unused available credit for absolutely no reason . . .

chattychappy

jon_boy75 wrote: »

aren't you much more exposed to fraud with so many cards?

Yes, I probably am and there is an overhead involved in keeping an eye on things.

I can access all accounts online and have switched to paperless only where possible. Because of the time I spend abroad, I only have accounts which I can check online.

In the case of accounts in use, I usually check every week, sometimes daily. In the case of dormant accounts I generally check every month to three months.

With some accounts I've asked the provider not to issue new cards, but to keep the account open.

It's true that new customer offers are generally better than existing customer deals. But most of my cards of have limits of around 10K or more. A new customer deal is all very well, but often you get them on lower limits.

I spend long periods abroad. I just feel happier having access to a great deal of credit if I needed it in an emergency.