Close Credit card??

douglasjtbell

Hi all,

I’ve been using a couple of credit cards to boost my credit worthiness over the last 24 months. I have now been accepted for a Tesco Foundation card. The question is I have a Vanquis card with a £250 limit that has never been increased since I got it 18 months ago, should I close that account or continue to use a small balance each month to keep collecting those green dots?

Thrugelmir

Maintaining and conducting one credit card account should suffice. Given that a £250 limit is negligble.

[Deleted User]

You should keep a backup.

How much of the credit are you utilising on the vanquis card?

douglasjtbell

I just spend about £40 per month on fuel and pay the balance off in full.

Fireflyaway

I applied for a tesco card and after 6 months the £250 limit was increased to £600 then 3 months later £900.
I previously had a capital one and vanquis and found the low limit was showing as a negative on my credit file. I also had them a while and the limit was never increased so I closed them.

[Deleted User]

That'll be why then.

You're not using enough of it to warrant an increase.

Also to the other poster, £900 is still a low limit

douglasjtbell

So what would you suggest as a spend per month to increase limits? Never missing a payment and always paying in full doesn’t seem to change anything.

Also is it better to use several cards or does one or two suffice to increase worthiness?

douglasjtbell

Thanks for the input, really appreciated.

[Deleted User]

Around 50% of the limit if not more.
And then pay it off in full each month.

There's no need for them to give you an increase in limit if your only utilising 16% of your limit.

You can use a couple/several cards - but what exactly are you trying to increase?

nic_c

Are you thinking an increased limit will increase your score? You already have low utilisation. I don't know your finances but do you spend say £150 or £200 a month using your debit card? Could you use your vanquis card for these, leave the money in your account and set up a DD to pay if full? This would obviously depend on your finances and would require you being able to leave the money to pay the DD and not spend it, so if you use all the funds in your bank each month and are simply using the card for a £40 spend that you pay off straight away because you can't just leave the money in your account unspent, then maybe it isn't best to risk the debt.