Should I reduce the limit on my unused amex card?

moneywow1

I have an amex card with a 5k limit, and two other 0% cards (3.5k and 7k - increased from 3.5k yesterday)
I used the amex card for the 5% cashback in the first 3 months, but now I prefer to put things on the 0% cards and leave my cash in savings. I only want the amex card for the offers they do sometimes.
My salary is about 25k so 15k of available credit already seems quite high to me. Utilisation is about 3.5k with 0 on the amex card. Should I reduce my amex credit limit since I increased the limit on one of my 0% cards yesterday? I'm also pre approved for a 5k 0% card from Halifax if I need to bring my utilisation down, but that would put me close to 80% of my salary, and I already have quite a few hard searches from switching bank accounts for incentives.
I have the savings to cover my entire credit limit if ever need though.
Am I better off letting my utilisation go up while I don't need a mortgage or anything, and then before I apply for one, just pay off most of the debt a month or 2 before?

[Deleted User]

Keep it as it is. None of your limits are high and having your limits reduced won't make you little more risky to lenders.

D3xt3r5L4b

Which cashback card is it?
If it’s the free one you have to spend £3000 per membership year to receive the earned/accrued cashback otherwise you lose it

moneywow1

D3xt3r5L4b said:

Which cashback card is it?
If it’s the free one you have to spend £3000 per membership year to receive the earned/accrued cashback otherwise you lose it

It's the platinum cashback one (£25/yr annual fee)

D3xt3r5L4b

moneywow1 said:

D3xt3r5L4b said:

Which cashback card is it?
If it’s the free one you have to spend £3000 per membership year to receive the earned/accrued cashback otherwise you lose it

It's the platinum cashback one (£25/yr annual fee)

OK - so there's no minimum spend on that one.
Unless you were referred and got the "£25 credit for a spend of £1 or more" then you need to make sure you spend enough to warrant the £25 fee, otherwise you're just wasting money.
The breakeven point for the £25 card is £10,000 spend per card membership year - otherwise you're making a loss with the fee.

jay1804

D3xt3r5L4b said:

moneywow1 said:

D3xt3r5L4b said:

Which cashback card is it?
If it’s the free one you have to spend £3000 per membership year to receive the earned/accrued cashback otherwise you lose it

It's the platinum cashback one (£25/yr annual fee)

OK - so there's no minimum spend on that one.
Unless you were referred and got the "£25 credit for a spend of £1 or more" then you need to make sure you spend enough to warrant the £25 fee, otherwise you're just wasting money.
The breakeven point for the £25 card is £10,000 spend per card membership year - otherwise you're making a loss with the fee.

How is the breakeven 10k spend, surly its 2.5k annually excluding the welcome bonus

moneywow1

jay1804 said:

D3xt3r5L4b said:

moneywow1 said:

D3xt3r5L4b said:

Which cashback card is it?
If it’s the free one you have to spend £3000 per membership year to receive the earned/accrued cashback otherwise you lose it

It's the platinum cashback one (£25/yr annual fee)

OK - so there's no minimum spend on that one.
Unless you were referred and got the "£25 credit for a spend of £1 or more" then you need to make sure you spend enough to warrant the £25 fee, otherwise you're just wasting money.
The breakeven point for the £25 card is £10,000 spend per card membership year - otherwise you're making a loss with the fee.

How is the breakeven 10k spend, surly its 2.5k annually excluding the welcome bonus

Because the free one gives you 0.5% for a bit and then 1% and the one with the fee gives you 1% for a bit then 1.25%

The reason I got the one with the fee is because I also got £30 cashback 

moneywow1

And I'll be changing it to the free one on renewal

D3xt3r5L4b

jay1804 said:

D3xt3r5L4b said:

moneywow1 said:

D3xt3r5L4b said:

Which cashback card is it?
If it’s the free one you have to spend £3000 per membership year to receive the earned/accrued cashback otherwise you lose it

It's the platinum cashback one (£25/yr annual fee)

OK - so there's no minimum spend on that one.
Unless you were referred and got the "£25 credit for a spend of £1 or more" then you need to make sure you spend enough to warrant the £25 fee, otherwise you're just wasting money.
The breakeven point for the £25 card is £10,000 spend per card membership year - otherwise you're making a loss with the fee.

How is the breakeven 10k spend, surly its 2.5k annually excluding the welcome bonus

I meant the break-even point between going for the £25 annual fee card and the freebie card - my bad

D3xt3r5L4b

moneywow1 said:

And I'll be changing it to the free one on renewal

So long as you can meet the £3k minimum spend per annum to receive the cashback

moneywow1

D3xt3r5L4b said:

moneywow1 said:

And I'll be changing it to the free one on renewal

So long as you can meet the £3k minimum spend per annum to receive the cashback

tbh I'm only really interested in the 10-25% cashback offers they have from time to time, which is paid almost instantly.
I don't really care about the 1% too much, I'd rather utilise 0% cards