Close card or keep open?

Picky

Hello.

I will be applying to get a new mortgage deal in a few months' time. In preparation, I've had a look at my Experian credit report. It shows some negative factors in that I have 4 credit cards with 58% available credit. Would it be best for me to pay off and close one of these cards to reduce the number of cards? Or would it be best to pay one off and keep it open, therefore increasing the available credit percentage?

Thanks.

[Deleted User]

Depends on so many factors, not least your income. But if you can pay one off then do so, particularly if incurring interest.. Try to keep your utilisation under 50%.

jamesd

What will be the limiting factor for your mortgage, the LTV or affordability? Keeping the card debt helps with LTV by allowing a larger deposit, repaying the cards helps with affordability by reducing the deduction they will make for the card repayments.