Cancel cards to improve rating?

Melly3510

Hi all,

My husband and I are both 31 and currently living back with my parents at the moment in order to clear debt and hopefully get a mortgage.

We were surprised to find out recently that my father in law had decided to give us 40k!
We've used 20k to clear credit cards(2 each) and catalogues and now all we have left is a loan each with our banks with a couple of years left on these.

I looked on experian and my rating is in the average section.

My question is would you advise to close all cards to improve rating or use one of them for small purchases and pay off straight away.

We were hoping to buy this year but I'm not sure we will be able to get a mortgage for some time

Thank you

[Deleted User]

First thing to know, is that your credit rating from a CRA is meaningless. Ignore it and never take any action based on it.

To build a good credit history, you need to demonstrate you can use credit. So spend regularly on at least one card and clear in full each month - but only once you have received a statement, not 'straight away'.