Vanquis, Halifax or both?

carousels

I opened my Vanquis Credit Card Account in March 2010 and even though during the first few months I made some late payments, for the most part, I've been paying on time and just two days ago they increased my limit to £3000.

I've decided to go back to university. I'm a 24 year old mature student. I've just applied for a student credit card with Halifax (the APR is much, much lower than Vanquis) and I've been accepted!

Just want to know, should I get rid of my Vanquis card or do I keep it? Don't they say that you're better off keeping your longest running card? I've heard people say that it shows lenders you're loyal? Or as a student, would it be better if I only had the one credit card?

Advice would be appreciated, thanks!

geekonthepc

Depends how confident you are that you can keep your fingers off the Vanquis. I'd always say keep the Vanquis card open - your "mature" accounts will always extend your credit rating as, to creditors at least, age implies stability.

If you can keep your spending on the Vanquis low and then set up a DD so it clears itself every month automatically, I would say keep it.

However, if you think you might be tempted to spend on it if times ever got tight, I would consider cancelling it. To be fair, the account is over 3 years old and that is a nice age for a credit account - closing it now won't really do you any harm.

Have a think about it - you could always ask Vanquis to drop the limit down if you think you'd be OK keeping it - at least that would avoid too much temptation.

carousels

Actually, I'm pretty okay with having access to that amount of money and not over-spending. For the last year and a half, I've only been using about £25 - £65 and paying off the whole balance in full.

I think I'll hang on to it and just use it once a month and do my main spending on the Halifax one - which of course, will be paid off in full.

Cheers.

pjread

Personally I'd keep hold until you've had the halifax 1-2 years before closing down the Vanquis, unless you get another mainstream card in the interim. Actually, maybe even keep the Vanquis until those late payment markers drop off.

The key is don't make any late payments on either

Maestro.

Keep the vanquis. It'll help your credit file in the long run and it'll serve as a reminder in the future of where you once started on the credit ladder!

carousels

Thanks, guys. Keeping the Vanquis!

And yep, I can see why keeping it as a reminder would help keep me on the straight and narrow. Never want to end up where I once was!