Juggling too many cards

j0hn80y

I have 4 credit cards.
Virgin 12k
Tesco 13k
Sainsburys 8k
First direct 7.5k
They have all been taken out over time to use 0% offers except first direct as I find this the easiest to use as its my bank. I owe nothing on them but have no 0% purchase offers available on them. I am pre approved for 0% purchase offers on other cards and will be looking towards the summer as I need to make a large purchase but its getting hard to juggle the 4 never mind adding a 5th. I have had letters in the past basically saying use it or lose it.
As mentioned on other posts, we've all heard that it could be damaging to close them and I've got pretty good credit so don't want to damage that but surely I can't keep adding cards as its getting abit daft.
Whats everyone reccomend?

[Deleted User]

4 cards isn't a lot. And how much 'juggling ' is involved?

If you set up DDs, they pretty much take care of themselves.

If you do close one, keep at least three and use them to prevent dormancy.. 

blue.peter

What's the actual problem here? What do you mean by "juggling"?

I have five, and don't find it a problem. Decent record-keeping  means that I know how much I owe on each at any given time (I use AceMoney for this). Direct debits to pay them off in full means that payments are automated. Unless there's a particular reason for using a specific card (e.g., cashback or the absence of a foreign currency transaction fee), it doesn't matter which card you use, so you might rotate them a bit. One or two small transactions on each card every month is enough to keep them active. Or you might choose to keep each card for particular purposes - e.g., groceries on one, fuel on another and so on.

In short, I mostly agree with @Deleted_User. Having said that, the bare minimum I'd keep is two. I'm not sure why s/he says three. One should be Visa and one MasterCard, ideally both issued by organisations other than the one(s) that have your current account(s) - that'd be First Direct in your case. This is simply for resilience: it minimises the risk of problems caused by IT outages.

Another benefit of multiple credit cards is that it gives a higher total credit limit and so keeps your credit utilisation ratio down (as long as you don't let debt accumulate). This is reckoned to look good on your credit report.

Marchitiello

4 is not a lot, albeit if I understand, not of much use in the current set up you have. I have had 9-10 at times, now have 8. 4 are in continuous use (BA Prem Amex and A MasterCard  for Avios and Lounge access, MBNA Horizon and Santander Zero for Forex Free foreign spending/car rental/Hotel deposit, currently superseded by Chase UK debit card), one is a Balance Transfer at 0% with equivalent balance earning some interest somewhere else, and the other 3 are legacy cards I keep alive with one transaction per year but could use the benefit at some point. 

The number of cards and in turn, total credit limit available is a good factor when carrying a  balance, so currently in your case not of much relevance. One factor that could affect your plan is the £40.5k total limit in relation to your risk profile/earning as it could cause new card to only be issued with smaller limit. In my experience, mostly from 2016, when I rationalised all my credit cards holding (e.g. got a new MBNA Airline card, moved the credit limit onto it from the other three MBNA cards I had and then closed them, as well as closing old balance transfer card no longer in use), I noticed that after a dip in Total credit limit, the remaining cards being used, slowly offered and gave me increased credit limits bringing me back to the previous total available, as well as opening a new Balance Transfer Card directly with an £18k limit 6-7 months later.

So having said all that, my suggestion if I was in your shoes, would be to first ascertain what would the large planned purchase in the summer do to my credit utilisation (will it be up to or less than 25% of my current total credit limit of £40.5k?), and in case it will be well below, could I close one or two cards now so that I can apply for a new 0% purchase card in the summer?  In choosing what to close, I would consider age of the account (keep the oldest card account you have, or at least the second oldest) in addition to wanting to keep First Direct. So assuming you have a good credit record, history with first direct, and Sainsbury’s is not your oldest account, I would potentially close my Sainsbury account and at the same time apply to a Credit Limit increase with First direct (potentially of at Least £4k). Then In the summer once you apply and get the new Purchase card, and considering the balance I am planning to carry over, I would close one or two of the other cards but in line with having the carry over a balance below 25% of the remaining Total Credit Limit.

born_again

j0hn80y said:

I have 4 credit cards.
Virgin 12k
Tesco 13k
Sainsburys 8k
First direct 7.5k
They have all been taken out over time to use 0% offers except first direct as I find this the easiest to use as its my bank. I owe nothing on them but have no 0% purchase offers available on them. I am pre approved for 0% purchase offers on other cards and will be looking towards the summer as I need to make a large purchase but its getting hard to juggle the 4 never mind adding a 5th. I have had letters in the past basically saying use it or lose it.
As mentioned on other posts, we've all heard that it could be damaging to close them and I've got pretty good credit so don't want to damage that but surely I can't keep adding cards as its getting abit daft.
Whats everyone reccomend?

When you say getting hard to juggle. Do you mean you are struggling to pay them & juggling payments between them?

As that's a £40K debt.

j0hn80y

born_again said:

j0hn80y said:

I have 4 credit cards.
Virgin 12k
Tesco 13k
Sainsburys 8k
First direct 7.5k
They have all been taken out over time to use 0% offers except first direct as I find this the easiest to use as its my bank. I owe nothing on them but have no 0% purchase offers available on them. I am pre approved for 0% purchase offers on other cards and will be looking towards the summer as I need to make a large purchase but its getting hard to juggle the 4 never mind adding a 5th. I have had letters in the past basically saying use it or lose it.
As mentioned on other posts, we've all heard that it could be damaging to close them and I've got pretty good credit so don't want to damage that but surely I can't keep adding cards as its getting abit daft.
Whats everyone reccomend?

When you say getting hard to juggle. Do you mean you are struggling to pay them & juggling payments between them?

As that's a £40K debt.

No, I wrote i owe nothing on them. The point to the post which most seem to completely miss is there has to be a point where its ridiculous to keep (as above in the comments) 9 cards. Someone else pointed out that each lender thereafter will probably offer a smaller credit limit and this may get to the point where you have exhausted the system. It will become a full time job making sure you make a spend on each 1, making sure that payment does indeed come out as banking errors do occur and as I've found in the past, constantly checking each card on a regular basis incase of fraudulent activity because someone somewhere will always manage to get your details and if you don't agree with that then you don't live in the real world.
I have an app for each bank, will I end up with 10 banking apps and then maybe lose my phone or have it stolen. Yes I make a note of all logging details but come on seriously!?! What aload of farce for what? Maintaining a few points on my credit file?
I dont WANT to damage my credit but having a full photo album of credit cards is just plain silly.
I feel 4 is more than enough and would ideally like to close 1 before opening another, this should be the sensible thing to do.
Last thing to add is the tone of some of these responses makes me wonder if some of you wouldn't be better suited to a Facebook forum

blue.peter

j0hn80y said:

... there has to be a point where its ridiculous to keep (as above in the comments) 9 cards...

You think nine is a lot? See here.

Marchitiello

@j0hn80y your statement that 9 cards is “ridiculous” is as bad as some of the comments you criticise to have been made. What does not work for you may well be perfectly manageable for someone else.. I believe my response perfectly addresses your question and gave you a good thought out plan on how to approach it. I said that to keep alive the ones I do not use currently, I simply do one transaction each year, certainly not a full time job. Amongst those there are two legacy -“closed to new applicants”-  Barclaycards, a cashback card which is also my oldest account, and the Hilton Honours, which give me automatic Silver status (which does not account to much generally but still managed to get some special perks in some places like East Africa, where I travel fairly often). I already have a Barclays App, so I do not need to have extra app for them.  Again 4 cards are in fairly rolling use, Amex mostly, MasterCard Avios when Amex is not taken, and the other two (a Visa and a MasterCard, for forex spending, both when travelling and when buying things from international markets). 2 Legacy cards are kept for stated reasons, one is a Balance Transfer Card and one is to be potentially closed soon, but all have been perfectly manageable for years. Also, the statement about low credit limit is to be seen in relation to one financial circumstances.. Based on my total limit, the lowest new limit I have been given in the last 5 years was £7500… but I suspect on a £40k total limit, there may be a risk for lower then £1k if other negative factors are at play, again I believe my original suggestion is likely to land you with a good limit on the planned new card in the summer. 

penners324

Just close a couple of them. The impact on your credit history is miniscule

j0hn80y

Marchitiello. I believe my response perfectly addresses your question and gave you a good thought out plan on how to approach it.

I stand by my 9 card comment but I should have singled you out as providing a pretty reasonable response but you are speaking as someone who's seems to travel alot, benefits from various rewards that most of us standard folk just don't get involved in. The typical credit card user would not benefit from an AMEX, the APR is usually ridiculous if you don't manage to pay in full and the cost to business is higher than other cards so some small retails still don't accept it. The only way to gain from cashback is it keep the card in constant use and all bar 1 of the AMEX ive seen comes with a yearly fee. I take advantage of 0% purchase and sometimes 0% balance transfer if it has a 0% fee. Once these offers have run, they rarely come back to the same user. My tesco and virgin do offer me new 12minth balance transfer offers every month so as long as I'm happy with the 3% fee its worth keeping hold of these but it always makes more sense to seek a new card with new deals

denow

Amex is VERY suited to the average user. I used it for pretty much ALL my spending as it’s the best cashback card I own. I find it to be accepted in most places (although admittedly, not in my own business for some of the reasons you outline) but have a backup visa in the form of Barclaycard Rewards.