Do i cancel my card??

damoC

Hi I have a vanquis card with a £3000 limit on. I've had the card for maybe 7 years but I no longer use it due to my other better cards.
Would cancelling this card have a negative effect on my credit rating?
Many thanks.

Superscrooge

Whether you keep it or cancel it, is unlikely to have any effect on how lenders view you.

Paul_01

It can have an impact, especially if it is the longest held credit account.

If you're having no issues getting credit elsewhere, and you have other credit accounts for a number of years, then I doubt closing this will have much 'real world' impact.

The score provided by the Credit Reference Agency may go down, but this score is pretty meaningless.

Reducing your available credit by £3k may actually have a positive impact.

In other words, there is no hard and fast 'correct' answer, it is very much dependent on individual circumstances.

damoC

I see, so reducing the available credit may be a positive thing, my other cards are quite high up to their limits so would it be better to cancel once these are reduced to try keep my percentage of used credit low? Cheers

Ben8282

Cancelling the cards will reduce the available credit and increase your utilisation %.

damoC

So I could cancel the card but once the others are lower so I keep the utilisation % down?

PixelPound

No definite rule, in terms of CRA score. Closing the card will reduce your average age of your accounts and you percentage utilisation if you have debts on other cards,both can be seen as bad. If the total available credit is currently more than your annual wage then closing could be good. If you don't have any closed accounts then closing this could be seen as good.

If you are nearing limit on other cards then that is bad irrespective of whether this card is closed or not, though if you close it and then request a limit increase on the others, it would improve their utilisation percentage and not overall available credit to salary ratio.

CakeCrusader

I've just done a BT to Vanquis to clear the balance. The interest rate is so high that it's tricky not to have a high utilisation percentage (I pay double the minimum balance and I find it a slog).

I wouldn't keep it unless you never use it to be honest. If you find yourself stuck for funds one month and you're not able to pay the full balance, you run the risk of being stuck with them and paying their massive interest rate for months/years. I'm sure there's other CC providers out there with better interest rates??

damoC

Yeah I have no plan to use it again due to the apr, I cleared the balance off it in feburary last year and haven't touched it since.
I'll get rid of it

No_6

Cancel and recycle