New credit card application

stringz

Hello,
I've just finished paying off the final balance of my 24 month 0% interest on purchases CC before the interest kicked in which i'm chuffed about. I have now just closed the account.
I want to get another CC with similar terms but was wondering if I should wait to apply as the credit agencies that the new CC might use will still show that I have the old CC open and then offer me less credit as a result. Is this the case? and if so how long would I have to wait till the credit agencies have up to date records saying I have no other credit cards?

Many thanks for any advice

[Deleted User]

It would have been better to keep it open until you had successfully applied for at least one more card.

With that in mind, I would apply as soon as you can.

stringz

Deleted_User wrote: »

It would have been better to keep it open until you had successfully applied for at least one more card.

With that in mind, I would apply as soon as you can.

Why is that? I had a £5000 limit on my old one, i would have thought the new one would have liked to see that I don't have too much access to unsecured credit.

[Deleted User]

They would prefer to see that someone else trusts you with a card. A 5k limit is very low, and would have little impact on another cad unless your income is very low.

And if your income is that low, you won't be offered a decent card in any case.

Applicants with no other cards tend to be treated as higher risk.

stringz

Thanks. I understand what you're saying. My logic was that they'll see that I paid on time on the previous card every month and once the entire debt was cleared I closed the account.

Ben8282

I don't really understand why you closed the old account either. I hope that you have not left yourself without any credit cards at all as a result. At least closing the account was better than the other mistake of reducing the credit limit to a very small amount as the now settled account will at least show the original 5k limit.
On the subject of excessive unused credit, please remember that the ideal utilisation ratio is apparently 10%.
You ask about how long to wait until the CRA records are updated. Unless you have access to actually check this, I would suggest that to be on the safe side you wait 2 months..

Ben8282

stringz wrote: »

Thanks. I understand what you're saying. My logic was that they'll see that I paid on time on the previous card every month and once the entire debt was cleared I closed the account.

The flaw here is that by closing the account as soon as you have ceased to benefit from the promotional rate is that a future lender will see you as a potentially unprofitable customer as they will expect you do do the same with their card ie take advantage of the promotional offer then take your business elsewhere.

bigadaj

Ben8282 wrote: »

The flaw here is that by closing the account as soon as you have ceased to benefit from the promotional rate is that a future lender will see you as a potentially unprofitable customer as they will expect you do do the same with their card ie take advantage of the promotional offer then take your business elsewhere.

No, that's not the flaw.

If it was the many people on these boards who have successfully stoozed thousands, or tens of thousands, on cards over years would above been unsuccessful.

That isn't the problem, the lack of an ongoing developing credit facility, showing and allowing the ability to manage payments when crit has been extended, that is.

I've never paid any interest in a credit card, have changed cards frequently to benefit from cashback and bonuses and incentives. Never a problem, but I've always ensured I've got the new card before cancelling old ones.

stringz

Ok thanks for all the feedback. I feel suitably chastened and won't do it again. I cancelled my old card and on the same day made an application for the new one. I'm hoping (perhaps wrongly) that it will take a while to show that I have cancelled the old one and the application for the new one will go swiftly. The immediate response from the new card company was that they will give me a credit limit of £8000, which was in line with what i was after, but they might change that downwards if they don't like/ find out that I very recently cancelled my old card.

bigadaj

stringz wrote: »

Ok thanks for all the feedback. I feel suitably chastened and won't do it again. I cancelled my old card and on the same day made an application for the new one. I'm hoping (perhaps wrongly) that it will take a while to show that I have cancelled the old one and the application for the new one will go swiftly. The immediate response from the new card company was that they will give me a credit limit of £8000, which was in line with what i was after, but they might change that downwards if they don't like/ find out that I very recently cancelled my old card.

These aren't hard and fast rules, just overall principles and guidance based on common sense and experience.

You'll probably be fine but it's safer to follow the oath recommended by it hers previously in future.