When to cancel credit cards 31 January 2018 at 12:02PM in Stoozing: free cash from credit cards 5 replies 2.2K views

RG2015

I have a number of long term of 0% credit cards. Should I cancel the cards once the 0% period is over and the card has been paid off thus allowing me to apply again at some point in the future

Also, would I actually qualify for a new 0% deal if I had previously had one with the same company?

Candyapple

With Tesco, I have kept the old 0% card open until I have applied for and received the new 0% one from them. Reason being as Tesco allow you to split limits so if the new 0% card doesn't have a high enough limit I can increase it by that method.

Sometimes I like to clear the 0% cards and close them down and wait for a while until a really good deal comes along. Sometimes it is good to reduce the available credit to you in order to gain a higher limit when you apply elsewhere. It all depends on your own situation and finances.

I have had lots of second, third time even new 0% deals with the same provider; MBNA, Barclaycard, Halifax, Lloyds, Tesco.

RG2015

Thanks for the reply.

Have you opened new 0% cards whilst you still had an open zero balance card with the same supplier?

Candyapple

RG2015 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

Have you opened new 0% cards whilst you still had an open zero balance card with the same supplier?

Yes. With Tesco, Barclaycard and MBNA and was accepted for them all.

RG2015

Candyapple wrote: »

Yes. With Tesco, Barclaycard and MBNA and was accepted for them all.

Thank you for your replies.

I currently have Nationwide, Virgin Money and Santander, so not the ones you have mentioned. I will have no need of these after the 0% is over as I get good cashback on my NatWest credit card.

I may need to research further on the effect of unused credit facilities on my credit file before applying for my next card.

Candyapple

The problem I found with Santander was they only had one 0% purchases card at the time and so unless I wanted to choose a balance transfer card from them, there was no point, so I closed that one down when it came to the end.

I've not had a Nationwide card yet so can't comment on that.

With Virgin I found that although you are allowed to have 2 cards with them, that if you had a 0% purchases card that your second card couldn't be the same. So if you wanted a second card it could be a balance transfer card or money transfer card, but not a purchases card. I don't know whether they have changed this since 2016 though as that was the last time I checked.