Closing Unused Credit Card Accounts

moneymuffin

I have a number of credit card accounts showing on my credit report that i do not use and have no intention of using, is it better to:

1. Leave them open so the % of used available credit is lower, e.g have £5000 available credit but only using £2000.

or

2. Close them so that although % of used credit will be higher the amount of available credit will be lower., e.g. using £2000 of £2000 available credit therefore using 100%

What looks better on a credit report? I was going to close them but was then worried that having a high percentage of used credit might look bad, not even sure if it has an effect at all.

Hope this makes sense, I know what I mean but not sure I've explained it properly, any way any advice would be most appreciated.

sistafromanothermista

:wave: You might be better off getting this moved to the CC forum tbh.
They will prob ask for more info.....
Income etc....

chanz4

The answer is know one really does, we are ALL guessing

moneymuffin

Thank you for the replies. I have done a bit of googling and found this so looks like I might be better off closing old accounts after all.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/cancel-unused-cards#keep

Plus I think with my mentality the less available credit I have the better. Tend to view credit limits as something to aim for.

The_Boss

I posted a big thread about 6-7 years ago about the damage that closing accounts and reducing limits did to my ability to get credit. Sadly cannot find it but it took around 18 months to 2 years to repair the damage.

Can you list your annual salary, credit cards with limits, month/year opened, number of late payment markers on each card (if applicable) and any balances on them please. Also do you hsve any defaults, and if so what is the date of default?

The_Boss

chanz4 wrote: »

The answer is know one really does, we are ALL guessing

This is not true, of course, unless you are guessing.

datlex

moneymuffin wrote: »

I have a number of credit card accounts showing on my credit report that i do not use and have no intention of using, is it better to:

1. Leave them open so the % of used available credit is lower, e.g have £5000 available credit but only using £2000.

or

2. Close them so that although % of used credit will be higher the amount of available credit will be lower., e.g. using £2000 of £2000 available credit therefore using 100%

What looks better on a credit report? I was going to close them but was then worried that having a high percentage of used credit might look bad, not even sure if it has an effect at all.

Hope this makes sense, I know what I mean but not sure I've explained it properly, any way any advice would be most appreciated.

From my own experience, I have had cards closed by companies that I did not use. But I don't know how common that is.

chanz4

The_Boss wrote: »

This is not true, of course, unless you are guessing.

Who can 100% say thats how a company works views it, know one as we are not underwritters and every company is different.

I close down unused accounts regular and never had an issue getting mainstream

lisyloo

I close down cards

Less chance of fraud
Less chance of id theft
Lower available credit (that works both ways but history stays for 6 years)
Availability of new customer deals in the future.

You need to make sure you aren't too maxxed out and have enough for emergencies, but past that I cannot see the advantage of keeping loads of cards open and any info on you out in the ether is potentially a fraud/id theft risk.

The_Boss

chanz4 wrote: »

Who can 100% say thats how a company works views it, know one as we are not underwritters and every company is different.

I close down unused accounts regular and never had an issue getting mainstream

I don't really understand what you've said, but you may have been able to get credit despite closing accounts, not because of it.

Several of us have gleaned information over the years, ratified by Experian (who know a thing or two about this themselves - you may have heard of them), hence me asking the OP to post the info I have requested above so educated decisions can be taken rather than shots in the dark.

BugsyBrowne

With credit scoring most of us believe the obvious ones like to much debt to income is a negative and maxed out credit cards are a negative but as for others what looks better etc we can only speculate with our own experience.
I think when people get accepted with IVA's Defaults CC'js etc it puts the credit scoring in a whole new perspective.