Closed one MBNA card, keep another open?

gglaze

Hi guys,

This might be a stupid question...

I closed my Virgin MBNA card a few months ago, in hopes that I can re-apply and get a new one after a year, and get the introductory 0% BT offer again.

However, I still have my other (Ryanair) MBNA card open. It has a fairly small limit, zero balance, and a bad purchase rate - so I don't have much use for it anyway, and I could close it as well, if I need to.

Does having the Ryanair card account open affect my ability to reapply for the Virgin account in another 9 months or so, since they are both MBNA? Do I need to have them both closed for 12 months before I can reapply for either?

TadleyBaggie

I had three MBNA cards for a number of years, however when I tried to get a Virgin I was refused because of the other MBNA cards

thenudeone

I used to have three mbna issued cards and they would happily switch credit limits between them at my request, but they are much tighter now.

My guess is you'd be okay applying with one existing mbna card as long as all the other factors were good.

SilverSpider

I have 3 MBNA credit cards direct from them. 2 VISA and 1 Mastercard. When there is no balance on a card for a month or two then MBNA suddenly send me 0 (zero) percent % offers on balance transfers (only 3 or 4 percent handling fee) and for nice long periods like 14months until the interest rate reverts back, but i usually transfer the balance again just before it reaches that month. You can do that between MBNA cards by using the card with the zero balance and the new offer rate of zero interest, transfer funds into your bank current account, then when those funds clears into your bank then pay off the MBNA card the has the outstanding balance on it before the zero percent term runs out. be careful not to leave a card un-used (zero balane on it) for too long, lets say six months or more, as they will close the account after writing to you because they think its in-active. Then you loose the credit availability that you gain on that card. i.e. you cant just increase that credit limit facility onto one of their other cards you have with them.

I shuffled around a balance of 5k for approx 6 years before i was able to pay it off. It was easier to swallow the balance transfer fee each year of approx 150, rather than stump up chunky monthy repayments to reduce it over any of the earlier years.

gglaze

Thanks, guys. Just called MBNA, no BT promos at this time, so went ahead and closed this one too. Hopefully that will eliminate any problems when it comes time to reapply in a year.