Closing credit cards and credit ratings

alisont

Hello, 

I've got a few credit cards and all are paid off/zero balance so thinking of cancelling them now but would doing this impact on my credit rating? I've got Barclaycard, M&S, Virgin and my own bank card but really don't need or want all those. I won't be applying for anymore cards and was thinking of just keeping my bank one then cancelling the rest but will suddenly closing 3 out of the 4 look suspicious? 

Many thanks in advance for any replies. 

Mandaloiian

Cancelling too many in one go may negatively Impact your credit file simply because it reduces your availability of credit to debt Ratio if they are all fully cleared I’d say slowly take them out 1 by 1.

D3xt3r5L4b

Keep them as backups. 

cymruchris

Will you want to apply for any major credit in the next 2-3 years? Any mortgage on the horizon? If there's no big financial requirement any time soon - you can cancel them if you so wish. Short term - your magical score will decrease, but will increase again after a few months, but your lower total available credit will likely keep your score lower than it is today. If there is a mortgage application due - having more available credit can be seen as favourable - especially if the utilisation of the credit is very low, so in that case I'd keep them.

alisont

Thank you for the replies, no I won't need to apply for any credit as not planning any house purchases/morgage. I may have another go at driving lessons and buy a car but I'll buy that outright if I do, no finance plans or buy on a credit card but pay straight off. 
I always use a credit card for any purchases over £100 and have them set to pay off full balance monthly if used. Sounds like I should close one (probably the Virgin money one) then I'll keep the others open for now, maybe look to close one every 6 months and keep a watch on the credit ratings.