£47,500 available credit

ashleytroy73

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

I think that was a joke.

Forum humour. 😂

G_M

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

I think that was a joke.

Actually no. Back in the day when credit cards were still handed out like smarty packets, with thousands of smarties per packet, I bought a house entirely funded on 0% credit cards. as long as you have a game-plan for paying off the cards (or transfering the credit) when the 0% deal expires, it was a far better way to fund a purchase than cash. Or mortgage. Or ... anything else!

Red-Squirrel_2

G_M wrote: »

Actually no. Back in the day when credit cards were still handed out like smarty packets, with thousands of smarties per packet, I bought a house entirely funded on 0% credit cards. as long as you have a game-plan for paying off the cards (or transfering the credit) when the 0% deal expires, it was a far better way to fund a purchase than cash. Or mortgage. Or ... anything else!

Huh! Well there you go!

How would that even work? How do the vendors get the funds? New builds?

G_M

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Huh! Well there you go!

How would that even work? How do the vendors get the funds? New builds?

1 or 2 cards (used to?maybe no more) allow you to transfer money to your bank at 0%. Then you do standard transfers between cards, till the full credit is in your bank. Then you're a cash buyer!


:T

moneyistooshorttomention

G_M wrote: »

Why not use them to buy a property? If the 0% is for 6 or 12 months that's plenty of time to renovate, and then either get a tenant in or sell.

Is that "tongue in cheek"?:rotfl: I've just got visions of everything going belly-up for the vast majority of people if they tried that. Six or 12 months to renovate wouldn't work for many to start with - it took me 4 years to renovate this house (and I was going as fast as money would allow me to do - albeit handicapped by living in an "Unreliable tradespeople area"). Selling after that - again - depends on the area to some extent whether that would go according to plan.

But my personal take on all these credit cards is more along the lines of "Get rid of all except one of them (with a low limit on) - or OP might be tempted to use them. That way lies ending up posting on the bankruptcy sub-forum:cool:".

SG27

ashleytroy73 wrote: »

So should I leave my credit cards as they are or lower the limits?

Close all but 1. Some lenders may look on large amounts of available credit as a potential risk. In future once the card has served its purpose close it at the time.

ashleytroy73

SG27 wrote: »

Close all but 1. Some lenders may look on large amounts of available credit as a potential risk. In future once the card has served its purpose close it at the time.

Thank you for coming back to me! I use an AMEX card for cashback & a specialist with no fee abroad (I love to travel). What do you suggest I move the limits to? One card has a £19,000 limit...

Herbalus

ashleytroy73 wrote: »

Thank you for coming back to me! I use an AMEX card for cashback & a specialist with no fee abroad (I love to travel). What do you suggest I move the limits to? One card has a £19,000 limit...

In your position, I would close 2, keep the 2 you are using plus one other, and reduce the limits to around £20k total. Although I don’t think it would make much difference. People are still handing on credit cards left right and centre. I now have 7 credit cards, mainly kept in a drawer because I can’t be bothered to ring up and close a few of the unused ones. Didn’t affect my remortgage.

ashleytroy73

Herbalus wrote: »

In your position, I would close 2, keep the 2 you are using plus one other, and reduce the limits to around £20k total. Although I don’t think it would make much difference. People are still handing on credit cards left right and centre. I now have 7 credit cards, mainly kept in a drawer because I can’t be bothered to ring up and close a few of the unused ones. Didn’t affect my remortgage.

One closed so far, two to go! I’ve read online that it’s good to have one with a relatively high limit, is this true?

Herbalus

ashleytroy73 wrote: »

One closed so far, two to go! I’ve read online that it’s good to have one with a relatively high limit, is this true?

Not especialy in my opinion.

It’s good to have a low utilisation of credit (if you’re using 95% of your available credit it suggests your finances are stressed), but you don’t need one card with a high limit to do that.

But there’s no harm in keeping it. I’d just leave it unless it’s really excessive. Like there’s no reason a £19k limit is going to do better for you than a £10k limit, which is still ridiculously big for monthly expenses unless you’re likely to spend large amounts on it. I’m talking big numbers, say £40k a year on a credit card.

I spend around £9k a year on cards and feel that’s too much!