Paying off credit cards as part of mortgage deal?

safeashouses

We're completing on a house on Thurs and have our mortgage agreed with Halifax. As part of the it states we must pay off our credit cards with the equity from our sale.

My solicitor contacted them and asked them for the accounts that required settling, and they said that she did not ned to do it, it was just up to us to do it when we receive our money.

So my question is, will they check? What if we pay them off and use them again? (car is not going well, if it breaks down and needs major works we would have to use credit card). Will we need to keep them clear for a certain amount of time? Can we use them when we are abroad in a few weeks as we intended to use them mainly and pay off on return for safety reasons.

kingstreet

They want the balances repaid at completion. What you do after that is upto you. Keep evidence of the repayments, just in case they ask.

Normally they don't.

Running up new balances with a new mortgages isn't the most sensible idea. So use the cards for stuff you will pay off within a month and don't end up paying interest.

safeashouses

Sorry, I maybe wasn't clear - we do plan to settle the accounts but wonder if we are obliged to close them or can keep them open should they be required in future? And how long we need to keep them clear for - ie how long til they request evidence they are settled? We go on holiday soon and don't know if we can use the cc then or not. Or whether to close the accounts and re-apply or something.

kingstreet

Your obligation is to do what your offer says. If it says repay the balance, you repay the balance. If it says repay and close the account, you do that.

Assuming the offer simply says "repay the balance" as long as you do that at completion you have complied with the instruction.

If you then go and spend on them on holiday, there's nothing the lender can do about it as you have complied with the condition in your offer.