what to do with various sub-prime cards?

fleetwoodguy

hi

i've got the following subprime cards:

capital one classic (since feb '11) - limit £300
vanquis (since sep '11) - limit went up to £750 in april
aqua credit card (since feb '12) - limit has just gone up to £500
aqua reward credit card (since last month) - limit £250

i put basically everything i buy on them, and pay them all of in full every month. the vanquis one has a decent credit limit, so i put all my oyster topups and starbucks card topups through this without worrying about approaching the limit.

the capital one card, i don't want to get rid of because its online systems are the best by far out of any of them. i like seeing my pending transactions, for instance if i go out somewhere i know i won't get a receipt or might lose it, i pay on that card to make it easy to keep track of my spending.

the aqua reward credit card, i obviously want to keep. i managed to cycle £600 of spending through it before the first bill - but a bigger credit limit would be handy.

this brings me on to the old aqua card. i can't see a use for it. the credit limit has just gone up to £500 so i suppose it may come in handy sometime, but the statement date means payment comes out at the wrong time of the month anyway (a couple of days before payday) so it wouldn't be much good in a short term crisis, really... what should i do with it? do you think if i called aqua they'd let me have some of the credit limit they'd given me on this card, on the reward one instead and close this down?

is there any benefit to keeping the aqua credit card at all?

guesswho2000

It's adding to building your credit history just by you having it, but whether that's any better than having three is debatable.

However, since it's only been open since February, I'd keep it until it's been open a year, preferably 18 months, before closing it. Having an account that's only been open a short period of time before closing shows indecisiveness, lenders will want to see well managed, lengthy history.

fleetwoodguy

guesswho2000 wrote: »

It's adding to building your credit history just by you having it, but whether that's any better than having three is debatable.

However, since it's only been open since February, I'd keep it until it's been open a year, preferably 18 months, before closing it. Having an account that's only been open a short period of time before closing shows indecisiveness, lenders will want to see well managed, lengthy history.

so keep it and put the odd purchase on there then to keep it going?

twice i asked them to change the statement date, twice they agreed and twice it didn't happen. do you think its worth asking a 3rd time, moving it back a few days, to make the card a little more useful?

guesswho2000

fleetwoodguy wrote: »

so keep it and put the odd purchase on there then to keep it going?

twice i asked them to change the statement date, twice they agreed and twice it didn't happen. do you think its worth asking a 3rd time, moving it back a few days, to make the card a little more useful?

You may as well try asking again and see if they'll do it, maybe that third time's a charm! Even if not, the occasional newspaper or whatever bought with it and repaid until the account is at least a year old will look better on your report than one closed so soon after opening.

If you use it now and again they might increase your limit too, if you close it with a higher limit that will also look better