What's best to do with unused credit cards?

matt8787

Hi

My partner and I have 13 credit cards between us, with a combined credit amount of £130,000

We're not using any of them presently / have no immediate plans to use them.

Are we best to cancel them, on the basis of potentially being offered more attractive promo rates in the future on 'new' cards? (though at the risk of a lower/more restrictive credit level being offered)

Or are there any reasons we should hold on to all / some of them?

thanks

National_Debtline

Hi matt8787,


That is a fairly substantial amount of credit to have access to, and I am not sure I can think of any scenario where you would need quick access to £130k worth of credit/ debt (depending on your perspective).


If all of the balances are at £0 then I don't suppose they are doing much harm. However, I would be inclined to cancel some and close the accounts as it just seems like there is more there than you will ever need.


Laura
@natdebtline

MallyGirl

I would keep a couple each - if one has a very high limit that can be taken as a positive by a future potential lender. I would keep a long held one - also can be a positive thing.
If you don't use them you are unlikely to be offered deals - although Barclaycard sometimes break that mould for existing customers.
Whichever ones you keep, start using for an occasional purchase and set up DD to pay in full. Buying on a card can give some protection so is not a bad thing to do.

getmore4less

If you can get them to give you free money(0% purchase) do some stoozing.

matt8787

thanks - i also found this, which provides useful info:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/cancel-unused-cards

Lith

Keep them in a safe locked away somewhere.

Chrysalis

I would cancel some of them but not all of them.

Keep the oldest card (is good to have long financial relationship).
If one is barclays then keep it as they keep throwing out new 0% offers.
If one is tesco keep it as they allow 2 cards anyway, and if you already have a card with them then applying for a second gets you favourable terms since its lower risk than a brand new customer. If you have 2 tesco then cancel one of them.

That way you can apply for new 0% cards if you decide you ever want to use the credit.

schiff

If you are opening bank current accounts to get the better rates of interest or access to very good regular savers, some of them (eg Bank of Scotland) require direct debits to be live on the account.

Starting to use an unused credit card for a couple of transactions a month creates a direct debit that could satisfy the requirements!

matt8787

Thanks

We have the following cards / credit limits, ordered in terms of when opened (having had the Barclaycards for 20 yrs odd):

Barclaycard (1) 8,900
Barclaycard (2) 16,000
Halifax (1) 9,600
Halifax (2) 15,000 (Partner)
Virgin 15,000
MBNA (1) 7,000
MBNA (2) 16,500
MBNA (3) 13,000 (Partner)
MBNA (4) 6,000
Sainsburys 11,000 (Partner)
Tesco (1) 5,800
Tesco (2) 5,400 (Partner)
Nationwide 2,000 (Partner)

Candyapple

Are all those cards from old deals that have now expired? E.g 0% balance transfer / 0% purchases.

Are you looking to stooze? Do you have any big purchases planned in the near future?

Can you separate the list into what cards are yours and which ones are your partner's?

matt8787

Have edited list.

Yes, all from now expired 0% deals

I don't think I have the dedication to stooze

No real big purchases planned (though currently fighting temptation to upgrade car :-)