Should I close my account(s)???

weebit

Hello all,

Seeking some more advice. I currently have 6 credit cards open and an overdraft with a total credit limit of £11,550 between them. I am currently using only about £6,100 of this. 2 credit cards have a £0 balance and all but one are currently on 0% deals. The only one that isn't has a balance of £440 at a very low 15.9% interest. I have 3 other debts at debt collectors and my fiancee has very kindly allowed me to use her card with a limit of £3,600 to transfer some debt into at 0%. My current total debt is £14,860.42.

In summery, my debts are as follows:
Halifax Current Account: Balance: £1990, limit: £2750. (£1 per day charge)
Halifax Credit Card: Balance: £440, limit: £500 (15.9%)
Capital One: Balance: £610, limit: £1000 (0% till February 2013, 34.9% afterwards)
Virgin Credit Card: Balance: £2850, limit: £3200 (0% till September 2013, 16.8% afterwards)
Barclaycard: Balance: £0, limit £1,800 (29.9%)
Argos Card: Balance £0, limit: £2,050 (29.9%)
Aqua Card: Balance £120, limit: £250 (34.9% - used as general spending card to take advantage of the 3% cashback. Always paid of in full every month)

In my fiancee's name (but my debt, transferred from cards above)
MBNA: Balance: £3400, limit £3600 (0% till May 2013, 16.8% afterwards

At Debt collectors:
HSBC overdraft: Balance: £250
Egg Loan: Balance: £3,700
Brent Council: Balance: £1,500

So my question is this, in the interest of improving my credit score, is it worth closing one or both cards with a £0 balance (Argos and Barclaycard)? I should also mention I have 2 defaults on my credit file which will drop off at the end of the year.

I'm currently resisting closing them because:
Argos: Although I don't often by things from Argos, they do always send me vouchers to get money off purchases when paid for using the card (e.g. £5 off £50 spend; £10 off £100 spend and similar). This has come in useful in the past and I'm sure would come in useful in the future, especially around Christmas or in emergencies.
Barclaycard: This card has a large limit. Me and my fiancee will be getting married soon and will need to make some big purchases. We are saving money into an ISA to pay for the wedding, but I would rather pay for everything on credit card for the extra protection it provides and this is currently the only card we have with a big enough limit to pay for things with. The intention would be to pay the balance the next month using money from the ISA.

I just don't know what the best course of action would be and was hoping you guys could provide some of your wonderful advice.

mildredalien

I'm not sure it'll improve your score that much given your current debt and defaults on your file. Are you planning to pay your debts off before the wedding, or deal with it all afterwards? I'd be seriously tempted to focus all efforts of paying the debt off before all those 0% deals run out... you may find you won't be able to get more. Also, what are you doing about the debts that are with debt collectors? Are the defaults you mentioned to do with those debts?

weebit

Yes, the 2 defaults are from the Egg Loan and HSBC overdraft.
I intend to tackle the debts before the wedding (which is provisionally in April 2014, date TBC), but I won't be able to clear them by that time unless I get a major increase in income.
As far as paying for the wedding goes, I've agreed with my fiancee that I'll pay in £50 a month to the ISA so we have cash to pay for things with and the rest of my spare cash goes on the debts to reduce interest payments, which is also the reason why we applied for the MBNA card in her name to move my debts over. This is saving me around £60 a month in interest charges.

Of course in an ideal world, I'd pay off all the debts first and then pay for the wedding, but we're both keen to not have the engagement be any longer than it already is going to be. So in reality the wedding will be paid for partly my cash, my fiancee's cash, money given to us by our parents and then topped up with credit cards (or a loan as a last resort but we're hoping it won't come down to that).