Should I close my 'spare' empty cards

kittykatneedscash

Hi all,

over the years I have shifted a lot of credit card debt around and ended up with a few cards which have available funds but not being used. Is it best to close these account from a credit score point of view? Is it bad to have a lot of available credit.

In total I have

Barclaycard £7000 available £0 balance
Virgin Money £5700 Avaliable £87 used
HSBC £1000 Avaliable £0 used
Post office £2400 Avaliable 31100 used (latest balance transfer.

MallyGirl

Yes - it makes a difference to your ability to get further credit (ignore the score as no one sees that but you). They will have to assume that you could go out tomorrow and spend up to the limits available to you.
I would get rid of the Virgin money one unless it is the oldest. I would also get rid of HSBC. BC often offer good deals to existing customers so I would keep that.

bouncydog1

I would hang on to virgin money as offers are usually much better (lower rates) that BC.

HSBC also give good offers.

As lending criteria has changed making it harder to get new cards for some people, you might do best to hold on to what you have if you can trust yourself not to use them unless you do so responsibly.

takman

I think Barclaycard is definetly one worth keeping I haven't used my one in a while and they have just given me 0% on purchases until March next year.

System

The HSBC one seems the obvious choice to ditch.
It has a low limit and they don't appear competitive.

Does the Virgin offer any benefits / offers?
Does your Barclaycard?

These are the questions you can only answer yourself.

bouncydog1 wrote: »

I would hang on to virgin money as offers are usually much better (lower rates) that BC.

HSBC also give good offers.

As lending criteria has changed making it harder to get new cards for some people, you might do best to hold on to what you have if you can trust yourself not to use them unless you do so responsibly.