We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Credit card for a first time homeowner
Options
Comments
-
Brokenlynx said:Interesting, this contradicts the earlier post, but makes sense, if a lender can see an account is settled without issue, I'd assume that would be a plus?
I've completed now but would welcome any further opinions on the best ways to get credit in the few months immediately following the completion.
Well, there's absolutely no reason to close your old cards unless you have problems with impulsive spending, etc. If they have some useless low limits, then OK, maybe better get rid of them. I would still keep the oldest card for credit history.By any chance, is any of your existing cards Halifax or Lloyds? If you apply for a second credit card with them, you can then transfer a portion of credit limit from your old card to the new one. Combined credit limit remains same, but the new card will have higher limit which will be more useful to you.EPICA - the best symphonic metal band in the world !0 -
Alex9384 said:Marchitiello said:These comments always puzzled me.. Closed account by users show as settled, there is no underlining issues with it, I have done plenty of re-organisation of cards, closing 6-7 cards at the time and applying for new ones… Settled credit account show in the same lights as a paid off loan, mortgage, car finance, settled Utilities accounts: you can actually manage a credit line entire life. Only argument would be to keep your oldest CC account for continuous history
Like, for example, with my 2 credit card balances still on 0% period. They seem to think that I'm struggling to pay it off, when in fact I'm just trying to make most of the 0% period.
0 -
Ebe_Scrooge said:I'm curious as to what makes you think they think you're struggling to repay - have they contacted you about it? The reason I ask is that when you have a promotional rate running on a card, it's marked as such on your credit file. So, whilst only paying the minimum would ordinarily raise concerns for a lender, it's pretty much expected behaviour when on a promotional rate.Firstly, Barclaycard reduced my credit limit when I still had almost a year on their promotional rate, probably just because my utilisation was high (their brilliant logic was that by reducing the limit they will take the utilisation even higher, so they can worry even more about it). Another card with higher utilisation is Lloyds because I bought a car on it, still on 0% period too until mid next year. Interestingly, Lloyds are OK with me increasing credit limit on the card (further reducing utilisation) but with other cards I'm suddenly not eligible for limit increases, despite having another 4 cards with utilisation between 0% and 5%, paid off in full every month. Also, Co-op declined my application for their CC (because they can't be bothered with offering people an eligibility checker.), which was the first time in my life I got turned down for a new CC. Their reason was that they were "worried I could take on too much debt". Yes, people with 4 almost unused cards typically need another one just because they want to rack up debt on it. It surely has nothing to do with rewards, which was the type of card I was applying to. That's why I'm starting to believe that banks are really clueless and they assume only the worst about their customers.EPICA - the best symphonic metal band in the world !0
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 351K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.6K Spending & Discounts
- 244K Work, Benefits & Business
- 598.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.9K Life & Family
- 257.3K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards