To keep or not?

sistafromanothermista

Hi i'm new:T
I have just applied and been successful for a new 22 month interest free card, the question is do i keep the old cards or call them to cancel? What are the benefits( if any) for keeping them and what harm can it do to future borrowing (If any) if i keep them?
Thanks, any help appreciated.

cos_2

Congrats on the new card! When you say future borrowing, I presume you mean a loan or a mortgage, since you have credit cards already

Assuming your other cards are at zero I don't think they'll do any harm, from personal experience. I've had an average of three/four over the last umpty years, and have used them sporadically. It doesn't seem to have adversely affected getting new cards, and loans, at all. I haven't been declined for the last 10 years, that I remember.

If your new card is a VISA, it's useful to have a Mastercard backup (or vice versa) as some odd suppliers accept only one or the other. If I HAD to offer you advice, I'd say keep one of the opposite brand and ditch the rest.

Some people say there's a relationship between your total income and total credit limit that WILL affect possible future lending. This makes sense to me, to some extent, although I haven't come across any generic ratio. I expect each lender works out risk in slightly different ways, looking at age, employment type and all that jazz.

No-one here knows how lenders work out their criteria, so we all have to guess.

Eonel

i assume you are going to transfer balances & consolidate onto the 0% card.

I would choose one of your other cards to keep one and close the rest.

It is a good idea to keep monthly spending and 0% bt cards separate. So put your normal monthly spending through the other card and pay it off in full each month.

Closing the rest means that when you come to look for another 0% card your amount of credit already available is not as high. Plus your credit record will be enhanced by showing the other card as well managed and paid in full each month