Too many cards

magpies79

So as the title states have I took this to far, I’m 2 years away from my last ccj falling off my file I do have 11 months of late payment markers from 2018 for which I was in a for payments to my mortgage but was in arrears but caught up end of 2018 since then everything has been on time.

so since about 2019 I’ve been trying to rebuild my credit history as at that point I did have 2 CCJs and 1 default but as mentioned only have the 1 now.

Which brings me to credit cards I opened one which was Vanquish then used payed off in full every month and now and then over the years I started to get better offers and open more again use pay in full my limits were all really low but have now started to increase.
ive never applied for more then 2 cards in any 1 year but should I close some of these down they are all used now and all payed off in full apart from my 0% which I used to get me into a position to clear all cards as wife had covid and was off for ages and had to help out my cards are as follows..

Halifax limit 500/ balance 400. Rate 0% has 10 months left 

118 limit 2000/balance 0. Rate is 34%

Marbles limit 4000/balance 0 rate is 30%

zopa limit 1100/balance 0 rate is 27% 

level limit 1500/balance 0 rate is 24%

capital one limit 1050/balance 0 rate 27%

fluid card limit 1200/balance 700 rate 0%
has 10 months left 

Vanquish limit 3000/balance 0 rate 54%!!!!

Argos limit 1400/balance 100 rate 0% 6 months left 

so I have 1,200 worth of debt all on 0% Argos is paid in full next week and 50 of the other 2 
so should I close some as I mentioned all the other zero balances get used and payed in full now
trying to work towards moving house next yeah so basically just been trying to rebuild a positive credit history with no missed payments to put me in the best position possible mortgage is currently at 40k worth 160-170k 

sorry for the very long winded post lol
thanks ste 

[Deleted User]

I'd keep them as the limits are very low but without them, your utilisation will look a lot worse.

magpies79

Ok that’s what I was trying to explain to the wife I mean compared to what my limits use to be years ago there are really low but didn’t know if having that many look bad that was all but thanks for your reply and advice 

Ebe_Scrooge

It's quite a few cards, but certainly not a ridiculous amount - and, as ZX81 says, pretty low limits.  Well done for referring to a "positive credit history" rather than "score" :-)

Yep, I'd agree, keep them, use each of them occasionally just to keep things ticking over, and of course repay in full each month.  Just keep an eye on your promotional rates - make sure they're paid off before the promo ends.  Sounds like you know what you're doing, but it's easy to forget when the promo ends if you've not made a note of it somewhere.

magpies79

One thing This site has definitely taught me is the fantastic myth of score case and point I have a better made up score then my sister in law who has no ccj never missed a payment and guess would consider a role model in the credit world hahaha.
 so thanks for the tips and help I work nights so this site has definitely help me learn a lot more on how things work so appreciate it, one last thing when the fluid card ends which is 0% do I keep that open also it’s my first 0% card in a long long time and basically use like the others? 

My earnings are 30k basic normally with overtime can be around 35k so everything seems ok that end just trying to work on getting savings soon 

Ebe_Scrooge

magpies79 said:

one last thing when the fluid card ends which is 0% do I keep that open

There's no reason not to.  Obviously you'll switch to their standard APR once the promo finishes - so make sure you've paid it off in full before the promo ends.  Then use it just like any other card - put a purchase on it every other month or so, whatever suits, just to keep it active, pay off in full when the statement arrives (whether via DD or manually), rinse and repeat.

Don't fret too much - as long as you're only putting stuff on the cards that you need anyway (petrol, groceries, whatever), it's just a case of making sure each card is used at least once every few months just to keep them active.

magpies79

Ebe_Scrooge said:

magpies79 said:

one last thing when the fluid card ends which is 0% do I keep that open

There's no reason not to.  Obviously you'll switch to their standard APR once the promo finishes - so make sure you've paid it off in full before the promo ends.  Then use it just like any other card - put a purchase on it every other month or so, whatever suits, just to keep it active, pay off in full when the statement arrives (whether via DD or manually), rinse and repeat.

Don't fret too much - as long as you're only putting stuff on the cards that you need anyway (petrol, groceries, whatever), it's just a case of making sure each card is used at least once every few months just to keep them active.

Great exactly what I’ve been doing use different cards for different things one for petrol one for food one for like night out treats so yeah will continue doing that look forward to another I told you so conversation with the wife  

Alex9384

Have you tried to manually increase the limit on any of those cards?

magpies79

To be honest always waited until they were offered most have not long been increased only one that has a increase option now is Halifax but only had the card 4 months isn’t it normally best to wait at least 6 months of payments first?