What to do with old credit cards and how to manage them to get new 0% purchase deals

deersmith4

Hello
I'm a bit new to borrowing.  I only understand the basics, so please help.
I took out a Sainsburys 0% purchase credit card a few years ago.  All fine.  I paid it off with no problems.
Then I took out a Halifax 0% purchase credit card, and the same.  All fine.

Then I took out a Barclays 0% purchase credit card, and I didn't manage to pay it all off.
So, I transferred the balance to Halifax.  And I'm paying that off.

I then took out a 0% purchase credit card with Virgin.
Now, because of the horrid state of affairs in the country, I know I will not be able to pay off Virgin by the end of the deal, so I will have to transfer the balance and take out a 0% purchase credit card.

The Halifax, Sainsburys and Barclays credit cards (from the 0% purchase deals I had) are still active, but I don't use them.
My current 0% is Virgin.

Is this going to hamper my application for a new 0% purchase credit card, which I will need. 

Transferring balance over seems to be no problem for me.

But on the soft check, I do not have complete certainty on being accepted when I apply.  When I first applied (Sainsburys/Barclays/Halifax)) I was 100% pre-approved for the longest terms.  Now this does not happen.  

What do I need to do to?  

Please help me become smarter re the above.

Thank you.

Brie

First - you need to figure out why you always need a 0% card.  Can you get rid of them and simply pay the balance every month?  

Secondly - how soon do you need to transfer the Virgin balance?  And I presume from your comments you mean transfer it to a 0% balance transfer card.  

If you get rid of a couple of the cards you are not using then that means you may be eligible for a new 0% card in 3 or 5 months.

Essentially you may have too much credit right now so a bank will wonder how you could afford things if you maxed the lot.  

[Deleted User]

The issue will also be if you close them in quick succession, the banks might think those lenders had closed your accounts as a worry about your credit - others don't see why it was closed. If these cards don't have offers, which is surprising as Halifax and Barclays regularly give me offers, then you could close one and give it a few months but they may or may not treat you as a new customer. You could also try an application to someone else

As above though whenever you do a BT you should always have a plan to pay it off in full e.g. savings in the bank or a regular payment each month that will clear in full at the end.

martinbainbridge1975

look in the barclays app, there is the facility that may allow you to swap to another card with a promotional offer. same also with halifax they might have offers on the app