Cutting up my cards

cab322003

I only started using credit cards this year, at the age of 27 and I fell into the trap just as well as anyone despite saying I wouldn't

I currently have 3 cards, all down to within £10 of their limits. My intention was to save them for important purchases only but we all know that goes out of the window once you actually have the card lol

I've found that the temptation to keep re-spending what I've paid off is too great and is a real trap that I hadn't anticipated prior to having credit cards.

I've decided I'm going to cut up all except one of my cards so the temptation is removed. At least this way I will have to go through calling and reporting the card lost etc. so there's no temptation to spend money impulsively.

I have a question regarding this though - If at some point I choose to order a new card, would my credit limit be the same as the one I cut up? Also would I have to re approved for a new card? The two I'm getting rid of are Aqua and Vanquis cards

Appreciate any responses

molerat

If you just report as a "damaged" card, better than lost as that can cause some problems, they will just issue a new one as if nothing has happened. It all depends on how long you leave them for as they may close the cards due to inactivity, beware of dormant account fees though, and then you would have to apply as a new customer. Not very clever building up debt on a sub prime card though as you have now found out.

Hooloovoo

cab322003 wrote: »

My intention was to save them for important purchases only but we all know that goes out of the window once you actually have the card lol

That's simply not true for the majority of people.

I have about £15k worth of available credit across three different cards, and at the moment there is less than £1k used between them. I use them for the cashback only, which has proved to be a nice little earner over the last fifteen years. I feel no compulsion to spend all of them up to the limit just because they are there.

Just because you have no will power, don't tar everyone with the same brush.

cab322003

Hooloovoo wrote: »

That's simply not true for the majority of people.

I have about £15k worth of available credit across three different cards, and at the moment there is less than £1k used between them. I use them for the cashback only, which has proved to be a nice little earner over the last fifteen years. I feel no compulsion to spend all of them up to the limit just because they are there.

Just because you have no will power, don't tar everyone with the same brush.

OK..you seem like you have a good sense of humour. Can we be mates?:j

aimzrabbit

cab322003 wrote: »

I only started using credit cards this year, at the age of 27 and I fell into the trap just as well as anyone despite saying I wouldn't

I currently have 3 cards, all down to within £10 of their limits. My intention was to save them for important purchases only but we all know that goes out of the window once you actually have the card lol

I've found that the temptation to keep re-spending what I've paid off is too great and is a real trap that I hadn't anticipated prior to having credit cards.

I've decided I'm going to cut up all except one of my cards so the temptation is removed. At least this way I will have to go through calling and reporting the card lost etc. so there's no temptation to spend money impulsively.

I have a question regarding this though - If at some point I choose to order a new card, would my credit limit be the same as the one I cut up? Also would I have to re approved for a new card? The two I'm getting rid of are Aqua and Vanquis cards

Appreciate any responses

cab the fact that you have racked up on the 2 most expensive cards on the market is going to cost you in interest

depending on what you have maxed your cards to is going to be tuff shifting that debt

i was in your shoes 3 years ago i had 3K on vanq and 1.8k on aqua i took out a unsecured loan at 5K over 3 years at 6.9% and shut the cards down , if your strugglin to self discipline with credit cards your better off without them

i wudnt even consider what the limits are going to be get rid of them ,

to pay off a vanquis at 3k not that im saying you owe that much the intersest a months is about 80 +50 minimum and you need to be over paying 100 a month to make any head way

that takes 230 out of your income each month for 1 card then add other cards

then what happens is you have 300 available balance then you reorder the card as its christmas then you get a credit limit increase as well and it goes on and on

good luck with sorting this out

rabbit

cab322003

Hi rabbit. thanks for the response

Yeah luckily my overall debt isn't that bad as the credit limits on the cards were low (£500 for Aqua and £250 for Vanquis). I do also have a barclaycard with an £800 limit which I went over in the last couple of days due to a subscription I'd forgotten about. Really gutted about that.

The trouble is any money I have atm is intermittent so it's really tempting when I have cash available via cards to use it. I have cut up the cards now and will focus on paying them off. I really wish I wouldn't have got them in the first place as they're too much of a temptation when you don't have regular cash coming in

aimzrabbit

cab

the thing to be careful of is the vanquis usually increases the limt about every 4-5 months ( as i have been corrected on another thread )

and thus increases the temptation i would opt out of any future increases you can call them and request this

something else you can do is get the card issuer to prevent you from being able to spend any more and just be able to pay it off

i know this is not the solution but its an option

when i say your life will be better without vanquis and aqua in it it i mean it mine is much better now :T

cab322003

Yeah I hear what you're saying but I can't really blame the companies for my own impulsiveness. None of the purchases are made were vital so I only have myself to blame. I'm most annoyed about going over the limit on my barclaycard cos I wanted to get the credit limit increased to help with a move later on this year and now that's ruined since you have to have 6 months without going over the limit.

I'm in a real dilemma as to whether to keep the card numbers for the cards I cut up since I heard you can get dormant account charges if you don't use it for months. Hmm I really wish I was never even given the option to get credit cards, I can see why I was always advised never to use them now. They really are a trap for some people.

aimzrabbit

it will be a card at least 12 months without any transactions before dormant even kicks in i wouldn't worry about that

vanquis are like fisherman they cast out see who bites at £250

then thers the nibblers at £500

then thers the maxers the big mirror carp , who have no financial discipline , love to spend , meals out , soon as the limit goes to 1500 wallop , yeh harvey nicks , stuff it lets go out for tea , chuck it on plastic ,

and so on and so on

like i said before good luck

rabbit

susan47

cab322003 wrote: »

I only started using credit cards this year, at the age of 27 and I fell into the trap just as well as anyone despite saying I wouldn't

I currently have 3 cards, all down to within £10 of their limits. My intention was to save them for important purchases only but we all know that goes out of the window once you actually have the card lol

I've found that the temptation to keep re-spending what I've paid off is too great and is a real trap that I hadn't anticipated prior to having credit cards.

I've decided I'm going to cut up all except one of my cards so the temptation is removed. At least this way I will have to go through calling and reporting the card lost etc. so there's no temptation to spend money impulsively.

I have a question regarding this though - If at some point I choose to order a new card, would my credit limit be the same as the one I cut up? Also would I have to re approved for a new card? The two I'm getting rid of are Aqua and Vanquis cards

Appreciate any responses

Oh my, no self control! And if you're asking about ordering a new card before you've even cut them up, well I think we have an idea which direction you're heading in. Look - I have kids your age and I'd tell them what I'm telling you now, it's good to have credit cards if you act responsibly and build up a good credit history, but you have to be sensible. It sounds to me like you don't trust yourself so - where do you do most of your spending? Is it while you're out and about? In which case I'd say, just leave the credit cards at home and if you don't have them, you can't use them. Alternatively, if you spend them at home buying stuff online, then give them to your mother (ha ha), they just need to be out of your reach. You just need to learn to control yourself and you may actually come to enjoy the freedom of not feeling you have to buy everything in sight on a whim. (If you're like my son anyway...)