Should I cancel cards after paying them off?

gaz77

I'm self-employed, and due to the nature of project work, it can often be many months between receiving income.

In an ideal world, I'd have plenty of money in savings accounts to see me through these periods, but in reality I've had to use credit-cards as short-term loans.
I've managed this very carefully, using 0% purchase and BT cards, so I've paid very little interest. I've always made at least the minimum payment, and a side-effect of this is that they've given me huge credit limits.

Recently, I cleared 2 cards with a combined limit of £20k. Should I now cancel these cards?

If I do cancel the cards, and then apply for them again at a later date, will they give me the same credit limits or the smaller limits you normally get as a new customer?

The big credit limits could be useful in the future, if I've along wait for income between projects again. On the other hand, it seems that introductory offers are generally better than what current customers are offered.

I'd be interested to hear what people think

Thanks

missile

Swings and roundabouts. If you close them you will be able to re-apply for new customer introductory offers but perhaps a lower limit. You need more credit, get more cards, but too many applications may harm your credit rating.

SarahJay55

funnily enough I logged on to ask this very question!

I recently received a replacement card for my Natwest Mastercard - which I'd forgotten I had since I haven't used it for months.

I called today to cancel it, as I was under the impression it was better for your credit rating not to have too many credit card accounts at once.

Predictably, the girl on the phone tried to persuade me to stay, and asked if I had any other card balances I wanted to transfer as they have a 0% offer on... after I asked, she did add there was a 3% transfer fee, so I declined, as I generally pay off my other cards every month. She transferred me to their cancellations department, but oops! accidentally put me through to their balance transfer team...!

I went through the same conversation with the woman I spoke to there, only she said as an existing customer, I would be eligible for possible future 0% transfer offers... so I said I would think about it. She wins for today!

So I was wondering if it was worth keeping this card indefinitely, and just checking their transfer offers now & then?

or is it better to have fewer card accounts 'open'?