Having several credit cards for short period

dutchcloggie

Hello,

I'm doing a bit of financial tidying up and looking at getting better credit cards.

I have just applied for a Tesco credit card since we do all our shopping there so it makes sense. I want it to replace the Nationwide Select Credit Card I currently have on our joint account so i am planning to cancel that one once I have paid off the whopping £45 balance on it.

Personally, I already have a Santander credit card (paid from my personal account, rather than our joint account) which I want to replace with a Halifax one as there is no benefit int he Santander card for me (no cashback, the 0% on purchases has expired and I am now banking with Halifax anyway).

My plan was to also apply for an Aqua card for my personal use (with payment for it coming out of my personal bank account), purely because I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon and they are currently giving a £20 voucher with the application. However, I have no intention of using this card, I just want the £20 for Amazon and then cancel the card as soon as possible.

There will therefore be a period where I will be holding 5 credit cards at the same time, even though I am planning to cancel 3 of them (Nationwide, Santander and Aqua in the space of a month). I don't actually NEED a credit card as such since I am never overdrawn and I only use a credit card to spread the cost of the car insurance over a year, hence I need one with 0% on purchases.

Is this a bad idea to have this many cards? We have just bought a house so it won't impact on the ability to get a mortgage?

Anthorn

Those cards will undoubtedly affect your credit history but how much depends on the lender who is looking at them.

Note that it's not usually possible to have a credit card account for only one month. Notwithstanding posts on MSE to the contrary, when you ask to close a credit card it is first blocked and then closed when the next statement is oroduced and the balance if any cleared.

dutchcloggie

So does having an Aqua card affect your credit record worse than, say, having a Halifax card because it is a card for people with a poor credit history?

glentoran99

No it doesn't,

[Deleted User]

Doesn't the aqua card have a usage requirement before you get the voucher?

dutchcloggie

Good point, about the usage. On second thought, I think I will get my life/mortgage assurance sorted first before applying for any additional credit cards.

Anthorn

dutchcloggie wrote: »

So does having an Aqua card affect your credit record worse than, say, having a Halifax card because it is a card for people with a poor credit history?

In my case, the opposite to that

SnowTiger

dutchcloggie wrote: »

I have just applied for a Tesco credit card since we do all our shopping there so it makes sense. I want it to replace the Nationwide Select Credit Card I currently have on our joint account so i am planning to cancel that one once I have paid off the whopping £45 balance on it.

I don't think that does make sense.

Nationwide's Select card offers 0.5% cashback and commission free transactions abroad.

All Tesco's credit card offers is 1 Clubcard point for every whole £4 you spend at Tesco and £8 you spend elsewhere.

dutchcloggie

I guess you are right! We have never used credit cards to manage finances over longer term so I have received about £3 in cash back in the 2 years we have had the card. We were planning to start using the credit cards for our regular spendings and I didn't even think about the cash back on the Nationwide card, forgot it even gave any! Oh well, I might not cancel it then and keep the Tesco card for the 0% on purchases so I can usenit to spread the cost of the car insurance.

Anthorn

Well actually, I would be more inclined to use my TSB Classic Plus contactless debit card ... er ... contactlessly and my Tesco Club card. In fact, that's exactly what I do. Planned for September though is replacement of Aqua and I've been looking at Clubcard credit card. All really hinges on whether Lloyds Bank comes up with a current account switch incentive. In that case I'll be all Lloyds.

dutchcloggie

Well yes but I don't want to switch to TSB with my joint account as the Nationwide FlexPlus account we currently have is very much worth it for the £10 monthly fee for all the extras. I know this is not for everyone but it makes sense for us. Also, TSB only gives cash back on cashless up till £100 if I am not mistaken?

Anyway, I was specifically referring to credit cards and how bad it would (or wouldn't) be to hold several ones even if they don't get used. Thanks to SnowTiger for pointing out my calculation flaw. I shall keep using the Nationwide Card and get some cashback on my purchases and then use the Tesco one for paying the car insurance on a 0% interest.