Available credit

Ben8282

There is very little point in keeping several credit card accounts open and never using them as sooner or later the card issuers will close the accounts for inactivity. The best solution would be to use them from time to time to keep them active.
How old are these 'old' accounts. Having older accounts on your credit files shows both stability and shows that you have maintained the accounts without defaulting them for an extended period. If you have decades old accounts then it would be best to keep them open.
What % of your available credit are you actually using? The optimum is apparently 10%. If you were to close the accounts that you wish to close then what would your utilisation % become?
As to lenders reaction to lots of available credit, that would depend on what you intend to apply for. At the high interest credit builder end of the market it may well worry lenders but at the opposite end of the market lenders would expect to see thousands and thousands of pounds of unused available credit.
What are you planning to apply for that has caused you concern regarding your available credit and utilisation %?

wmat983

Ben8282 wrote: »

There is very little point in keeping several credit card accounts open and never using them as sooner or later the card issuers will close the accounts for inactivity. The best solution would be to use them from time to time to keep them active.
How old are these 'old' accounts. Having older accounts on your credit files shows both stability and shows that you have maintained the accounts without defaulting them for an extended period. If you have decades old accounts then it would be best to keep them open.
What % of your available credit are you actually using? The optimum is apparently 10%. If you were to close the accounts that you wish to close then what would your utilisation % become?
As to lenders reaction to lots of available credit, that would depend on what you intend to apply for. At the high interest credit builder end of the market it may well worry lenders but at the opposite end of the market lenders would expect to see thousands and thousands of pounds of unused available credit.
What are you planning to apply for that has caused you concern regarding your available credit and utilisation %?

Basically wanting to get accepted for almost all the longest 0% balance transfer deals.

Okay thanks I'll keep them open, rather than close them down I'll use and pay off balance in full each month.

Ben8282

welshmatt983 wrote: »

Basically wanting to get accepted for almost all the longest 0% balance transfer deals.

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On the basis that getting accepted for almost all the longest 0% balance transfer deals would be of no interest to anybody who did not have several large balances on their existing cards, I would think that the existence of such balances would be of more concern to potential lenders and yourself than lots of unused available credit

Houndog6105

This is what I'll never understand. What's the point in having loads of Available credit if you can't use it or don't want to use it. Why apply for it in the first place? Just for it to be sitting there unused

Ben8282

Houndog6105 wrote: »

This is what I'll never understand. What's the point in having loads of Available credit if you can't use it or don't want to use it. Why apply for it in the first place? Just for it to be sitting there unused

Well yes actually.