Worth applying for Credit Card 6 months prior to mortgage application?

Yorkiee

Hi all, apologies is this isn't in the correct forum, please feel free to move it

My partner and I will be looking to apply for a mortgage in roughly 6 months time (first time buyers with good joint income and likely 10-15% deposit)

In summer 2021 I paid off a fairly large balance on a number of credit cards, all of which I then closed. This is now showing as a limiting factor on credit reports.

Is it worth applying for a credit card to boost my mortgage chances by showing 6 months worth of responsible CC usage? ClearScore, CreditKarma, etc, show that I'm pre-approved for cards, but obviously don't want to hinder my mortgage chances - I'd heard it's best not to take out any new credit lines in the 6 months prior to applying for a mortgage. 

Credit files are otherwise fine since paying off the CC balance - I've not other outstanding debts apart from 5 months remaining on hire car purchase finance. I'm fairly confident that even without getting a CC we should have no difficulties, but if a CC could potentially help getting offered slightly better rates, etc, then is this worth looking into? Any thoughts welcomed

Many thanks!

[Deleted User]

It's not going to do much good in 6 months, but if you're clearing in full, no harm either and having at least a couple of cards is sensible.

Thrugelmir

Applying for a new credit card is not going to boost your chances of obtaining a mortgage. Simply maintain the existing accounts that you have properly. Overthinking things isn't going to help. Focus on what you can control. 

Yorkiee

Many thanks!