Do I keep both cards open?

chelseablue

At the moment I have 2 credit cards, Barclaycard and Halifax.


Both have £0 balance


I only got the Halifax clarity card when I was going to Florida in 2010 as it was a good card to take abroad at the time (not sure if it still is?)


I haven't been abroad since 2010 :rotfl: but we are hoping to go to Spain next year.


My credit rating is excellent, so should I close the Halifax or is there no issue keeping both cards open?

MallyGirl

the only issue with keeping both open is if you want to apply for further credit, such as a 0% offer, then the amount of credit already available to you (whether being used or not) would be taken into account when deciding on what limit to offer on the new product

Inner_Zone

I had a Halifax Clarity card purely for overseas usage, did not use it for a few years and Halifax suddenly closed the account without notice, so be-where.

chelseablue

Thank you, I suppose I could put a food shop on it each month and just pay off in full to keep it in use.


My Barclaycard limit is £7,000 and the Halifax limit is £6,200

JimmyTheWig

I don't think two cards is too much.

I agree with your plan of putting a bit of shopping on it each month.
Make sure you pay it off on time in full, preferably after the statement has come in.
Only use it for stuff that you would have bought anyway.

Using a card in this way should improve your credit file as it shows that you can use credit responsibly.

bigadaj

If you are going abroad then two cards is a minimum really, three cards on different networks ideally might be best.

With a Halifax reward current account then you can get £5 per month from the clarity with a £300 spend, at least for the next few months, and they are currently giving me 1% cashback for 3 months, did the same thing last year, which is better than a poke in the eye.

PeacefulWaters

Always worth having a back up.

Also good to have an extra direct debit for earning higher returns on current accounts.