Closing Multiple Cards

IslaView

Hi, 

I recently secured a debt consolidation loan, so have paid off my existing cards which had mounted up. I now have 7 cards sat not being used. It is my intention to keep the oldest one to assist with my credit rating, but what should I do with the other 6? I have read it can be detrimental to my credit rating to close them all down. I do not want to have them available, so closing them is the best option for me, but only if it doesn't harm my rating.

Any help much appreciated 😊

Willing2Learn

Do you trust yourself?  Maybe you should close all the accounts if you feel at risk of overspending

cymruchris

One option might be to cut up a few of the cards while leaving the accounts open in the background, so that you can't physically use them. You might possibly find the card operators reduce your limit over a long period due to inactivity, but they might just let the accounts run at their existing credit limits - then should you want to apply for a mortgage in the future, having some availability of credit that's not being used could be viewed positively. 

IslaView

Willing2Learn said:

Do you trust yourself?  Maybe you should close all the accounts if you feel at risk of overspending

I'd rather not have them available, but I don't want to negatively affect my credit rating by closing down mtiple cards in one go. 

IslaView

cymruchris said:

One option might be to cut up a few of the cards while leaving the accounts open in the background, so that you can't physically use them. You might possibly find the card operators reduce your limit over a long period due to inactivity, but they might just let the accounts run at their existing credit limits - then should you want to apply for a mortgage in the future, having some availability of credit that's not being used could be viewed positively. 

I might do this. If it helps. With any future mortgage/loan then that is exactly what I am looking for. Guess I would need to track which ones I have before I cut them just in case I forget 🤣

born_again

IslaView said:

Hi, 

I recently secured a debt consolidation loan, so have paid off my existing cards which had mounted up. I now have 7 cards sat not being used. It is my intention to keep the oldest one to assist with my credit rating, but what should I do with the other 6? I have read it can be detrimental to my credit rating to close them all down. I do not want to have them available, so closing them is the best option for me, but only if it doesn't harm my rating.

Any help much appreciated 😊

I'm surprised that if it was a "Debt consolidation loan" that part of the agreement was that ALL had to be closed down.

Get them closed and remove any temptation.
So long as you are paying the loan, your credit history will be fine, Forget the rating.

IslaView

born_again said:

IslaView said:

Hi, 

I recently secured a debt consolidation loan, so have paid off my existing cards which had mounted up. I now have 7 cards sat not being used. It is my intention to keep the oldest one to assist with my credit rating, but what should I do with the other 6? I have read it can be detrimental to my credit rating to close them all down. I do not want to have them available, so closing them is the best option for me, but only if it doesn't harm my rating.

Any help much appreciated 😊

I'm surprised that if it was a "Debt consolidation loan" that part of the agreement was that ALL had to be closed down.

Get them closed and remove any temptation.
So long as you are paying the loan, your credit history will be fine, Forget the rating.

No agreement they all need closed down, but that's the reason I got the loan. I have paid them all off, but now they are sat doing nothing. It was my plan to just keep the oldest card (and incidentally the one with the highest credit amount) to help my credit rating. 

maxximus75

Closing multiple accounts in one go will probably have an impact to your ficticious score because of several factors.  Lowering your debt/available credit ration, lowering your AAoA etc.

Are you thinkling of applying for credit anytime soon?  If not, then I cant see why a gradual closure of accounts wouldnt be a problem. 

If you to it too close together, it could "spook" the credit card provider that you want to keep and they could reduce your credit limit etc as on paper, it looks like your creditors are closing your accounts for whatever reason.

If it's a balance between you possibly going into futher debt by keeping them open against closing them and taking a possible hit against a made up score... I would go with the latter.

One last note is that I would keep maybe two cards open to strengthen your credit history.

Good luck!

stehouk

Only you know if you can resist spending on the cards again, if you have managed to run up 7 cards you seem to be having trouble controlling your'e spending, i would close 6, keep the oldest or the one with the highest limit (for emergencies only) until you have paid down the loan, i closed 4 cards in one day, my score (ignore it) dropped by approx 120 points but rose again after a couple of months. 

Willing2Learn

If you are going to keep one card, then you may as well keep the two oldest accounts.  Just do your budgeted monthly groceries and travel expenses on a card and then pay the statements in full each month.  That way you cannot overspend.  The reason you have two cards is so that you have one spare, just in case your primary card is not working for whatever reason.

redux

I'd say use 1 or 2 for modest regular spending, paying them in full each month, close 2 or 3 , decide later on the others.

Whether this makes much difference to credit rating, I don't know, but it doesn't really matter anyway if you don't need to apply for more credit for some time.