Closing down credit card accounts...

ali68

I currently have 5 credit card accounts which I would like to close:

2 Bank of Scotland
2 MBNA
1 Mint

Is it advisable to close all these at the same time or should I stagger the closing down times?

Thanks all.

Reaper

There is no advantage in staggering it, you might as well close any you don't want in one go.

magnum9

I think it wise to ensure that you get written confirmation from them that the cards in question have been cancelled.

Personally, I'd phone them first - and explain why you are cancelling.

This may provide two benefits:

1, They may be able to offer you a tantalising reason to stay with them that you are not aware of - they may make you a special offer etc!

2. They will know the "reason" why you closed your account and this may get recorded on their system with a "good" reason code.

(e.g. a bad reason code, could be "customer not meeting payments"! - you know the sort of thing - basic point being that you want to do all you can to protect your credit rating).

Basically, though, I'd make sure you cancel all that you do not need asap - but I would make sure that I kept at least:

1 visa
1 mastercard
1 amex (optional)

cheers

Mike

smartsaver

I agree with the above postings and would ask for written confirmation that the accounts have been closed.

deemy2004

ali68 wrote:

I currently have 5 credit card accounts which I would like to close:

2 Bank of Scotland
2 MBNA
1 Mint

Is it advisable to close all these at the same time or should I stagger the closing down times?

Thanks all.

When you close the cards down, ensure that total remaining debt is less than 75% of total available credit. If your % debt is too high then it may go against you in future applications.

ali68

Thanks everyone, all the cards have zero debt on them and are no longer used as interest ranges from 17-19%. The Mint I may keep as it is a Mastercard .