To close or not to close sub prime card

battleweary

Hi all,


I have been rebuilding my credit file since bankruptcy in July 2008. Part of this process involved having a Vanquis Card which I now am being charged an extortionate interest rate on.


I am now in a position to pay the balance off in full and have two other credit cards which are interest free.


My question is once I pay off the Vanquis card should I close the account or make one purchase a month and pay it off in full per month? I have two other prime credit cards, a small loan with my bank and a mortgage now and everything has been kept in perfect order for years.


My concern is that the Vanquis card is my longest standing credit agreement so if I close it will it have an adverse effect?


Many thanks to anyone that replies.


Best regards

Tixy

How long have you held the other accounts?

How much older is this account that the others?

Given that you have quite a few other credit accounts, and particularly a mortgage then I probably would close the account, as ther other items should be an indicator of stability to any potential lenders.

battleweary

Thank you for the reply,


The other accounts are about 18 months old, the vanquish one about 5 years. I have only had the mortgage for two months.


I notice that one of the pieces of information provided by Experian is % of available credit used. Presumably if I pay it off but keep it open this will lower this %?


Thanks

grumbler

battleweary wrote: »

... Part of this process involved having a Vanquis Card which I now am being charged an extortionate interest rate on.

Surely paying an extortionate interest isn't an integral part of the process.

battleweary

No indeed not, having the card was the fundamental part of the process and circumstances meant I had to put a four figure sum on the card in the short term which was subject to the extortionate interest rate.As I envisaged I am now in a position to pay it off.


My question is simply pay it off and close it or pay it off and use it to buy petrol once a month and pay off the balance in full each month.

jimmy*c

I'd close it personally. Open up a mainstream card if you can, cashback preferably. Hold on to that and use for petrol etc.

battleweary

jimmy*c wrote: »

I'd close it personally. Open up a mainstream card if you can, cashback preferably. Hold on to that and use for petrol etc.

I do have two mainstream cards so does that lend wait to closing the subprime one? My only concern is I have had it much longer than the others so it shows a longer term history of being managed well?


Thanks

YorkshireBoy

Which are the 2 newest cards?
What are their limits?
How much debit currently resides on them?
Are you assembling debt on them, or repaying in full each month even though they're 0%?


And what's the Vanquis credit limit and current debt?

battleweary

The newest is MBNA at four months 2500 balance 6k limit 0%
Second newest Barclaycard at 9 months 1800 balance 5k limit 0%
Vanquis oldest at approx. four years 900 balance 3k limit.


I have the cash to pay the vanquish card off, I don't want to BT it as I am working hard to reduce my debt rather than transferring it?

System

Pay off (or BT the £900 to one of your other cards) and vanquish the card

battleweary wrote: »

I have the cash to pay the vanquish card off, I don't want to BT it as I am working hard to reduce my debt rather than transferring it?

planteria

now you have two other cards i would clear and close the Vanquis card.