Cancel balance transfer card or not?

pagrate

I have 2 credit cards, one with my main bank Nationwide and another with Virgin Money that I did a balance transfer to

Both cards now have 0 balance though I used the Nationwide one each month for small things and clear it every month.

Now that I have 2 credit cards with 0 balance and around 25k worth of credit I noticed my credit rating went down last month (I check with Credit Karma)

Now that the Virgin Money card has served it's purpose to help clear my debt by using the 0% balance transfer, should I close this card down now or keep it open?

Will it hurt my credit record to close the card or better to close to reduce my credit utilization?

Ganga

Your credit rating is just a made up number ,if seeking finance /purchases the finance company check your availability on  your income ,expenditure ,level of debt etc. 

Ebe_Scrooge

Your credit rating as dished out by the CRAs is meaningless, ignore it.  It bears no relation whatsoever to how a lender will view you.

If you only have 2 cards, I'd keep them open, use them occasionally for routine spending, always pay in full every month.  Long-standing, well-managed lines of credit are viewed positively by any future lender.  In addition, it's generally a good idea to have more than one card available, just in case one of the lenders suffers a temporary technical glitch or something - you'll always have a backup.

(Incidentally, your score will have dropped when you cleared the BT card.  You score drops in response to any change in your credit circumstances, whether good or bad.  But it's nothing more than a marketing gimmick invented by the CRAs for comedic effect, so pay no attention to it).

impoverishedtraveller

Only question I have is why didn't you search the many thousands of exisiting threads on this topic before posting.

cymruchris

Definitely with only two cards keep them open - and keep them both active - pop a few items through on the Virgin one as well, and then pay in full. Don't worry about your score going up, down or sideways.

[Deleted User]

cymruchris said:

Definitely with only two cards keep them open - and keep them both active - pop a few items through on the Virgin one as well, and then pay in full. Don't worry about your score going up, down or sideways.

But what if it stays the same Chris? WHAT IF STAYS THE SAME?!!?!?!??!!

cymruchris

Deleted_User said:

cymruchris said:

Definitely with only two cards keep them open - and keep them both active - pop a few items through on the Virgin one as well, and then pay in full. Don't worry about your score going up, down or sideways.

But what if it stays the same Chris? WHAT IF STAYS THE SAME?!!?!?!??!!

My equifax has stayed the same constantly for 9 months now - I think it's broken. This last month I added 3 new credit cards - and 3 new current accounts (I've also closed 3 credit cards and 2 current accounts - but they haven't updated yet) - so it's had a shock in terms of 'financial' activity - and yet the magic score has stayed the same.