Keep MBNA Platinum or not?

ryuuoo

Hi there,

About me: third year student, part time job, student loan. I manage my money well, always pay in full and never missed a payment on my HSBC Student CC (£500 limit), Clarity (£1500), or Barclaycard Freedom Rewards (£500). I have a £500 overdraft with HSBC which I never go into. I am also currently paying off a Clydesdale/Barclays Partner Finance loan with around £200 left on it.

Two months ago my mum wasn't well so I had to go and take care of her and ended up spending around £1000 which I had not planned to. So when I got back I decided to apply for the MBNA Platinum 0% balance transfer CC. Got accepted for 14 months which I was happy about.

Luckily, my extended family was able to help me with the £1000 so don't really need the MBNA card anymore.

My question is, should I keep it open, put £50 on it every month and pay it off in order to get more of a credit history with MBNA or should I rather close it? The main reason being because I am aware my credit availability vs my salary (roughly 18K) is quite high.

Another reason why I would want to keep it open would be to see if it would improve my chances of in the future getting the MBNA everyday Amex with no foreign fees.

What do you think?

john1002

I would say keep your MBNA card, they are normally quite good with on-going offers and one of few cards that allow money transfers(so money into your bank account not requiring another credit card to do a balance transfer) also you don't have to pay every month on it, but now and again will stop it showing as dormant on your credit file.

John

nb0825

If you have a credit card that you don't plan on using, you should close the account. Personally, if its 0% on purchases for 14 months I don't see why you would avoid using it, but hey everyone has their own quirks

System

Why would you want a platinum everyday when you have clarity?

I suggest ditching the HSBC and Barclaycard - keeping Clarity & MBNA.

SeduLOUs

Probably too late now, but personally I'd have stoozed it (max out the card with normal purchases, put the money to pay it off in a high interest account, and just pay minimums on the card until the 0% interest free period is about to expire).