Bit of a ridiculous question I suppose - How many Credit Cards is too many ?

jasonwatkins

As it stands, I've currently got 5 - Marbles, Tesco, Thimbl, Bip and Aqua for a total credit of £6k.

According to clearscore, my credit rating is 'stable' at 474 and my affordability rating is 54 so not great, and it's never been great.

Now here's the thing.   I was doing an Asda home delivery for tomorrow morning earlier on and there was an ad on the checkout page (that somehow escaped my adblocker) about Asda credit cards so, probably out of habit more than anything, I checked my eligibility and much to my surprise, I was pre-approved for another one so, of course, I completed the application and will soon be receiving an Asda Select Credit Card with a £750 limit.

It's only now I'm thinking "Ok, so why did you do that..".

The logical part of my brain is thinking I can probably close Bip at least as I hardly use it and maybe replace Tesco with Asda as Tesco is only £250 at the moment, but the other illogical (and probably autistic) side is thinking I need to keep, and try and use, all of them as it'll help improve my credit rating even further.

So if anyone can spare a minute, how would you unravel the situation ?.   Thankyou in advance

eskbanker

Nothing inherently wrong with having a wallet full of credit cards, unless you're tempted to spend unnecessarily on them, but best to use them and to pay off in full each time - are you carrying any balances?

daveyjp

If limits are low as yours appear to be multiple cards may be the best way. 

If you end up with a couple of cards with credit limits of £5-10k you may rethink your approach.

jasonwatkins

eskbanker said:

Nothing inherently wrong with having a wallet full of credit cards, unless you're tempted to spend unnecessarily on them, but best to use them and to pay off in full each time - are you carrying any balances?

Only around £180 across two cards but they’re things that are also about to be refunded though so when that happens then all of the cards will be fully clear.

I think, if I’m being honest, I’d prefer a single card from a “real” bank (Barclays, Lloyds etc..) with a good limit and I’d probably be happy with that.

The problem with that will always be that I still have some defaults on my credit file and also a number of accounts that I negotiated early settlements with so I doubt it’ll be any time soon I’ll have any chance of achieving what I want.

wiseonesomeofthetime

There is no issue having many credit cards, in itself.

As mentioned by Eskbanker above, it is how you manage them that is the important factor.

I currently hold seven credit cards, across the provider spectrum, i.e. VISA, Mastercard, AmEx, all for specific purposes originally, but retained and occasionally used, ALWAYS paid off IN FULL each month.

If, however, you are likely to be applying for a mortgage or other large credit facility in the near future, bear in mind that prospective lenders will look at your accumulative risk of exposure to credit, in your case £6,750 now (which tbh is low as many people have credit limits greater than that on one card), relative to your declared income on an application form.

And of course, your new Asda card will reward you with Asda Pounds on your spending too

eskbanker

jasonwatkins said:

eskbanker said:

Nothing inherently wrong with having a wallet full of credit cards, unless you're tempted to spend unnecessarily on them, but best to use them and to pay off in full each time - are you carrying any balances?

Only around £180 across two cards but they’re things that are also about to be refunded though so when that happens then all of the cards will be fully clear.

I think, if I’m being honest, I’d prefer a single card from a “real” bank (Barclays, Lloyds etc..) with a good limit and I’d probably be happy with that.

The problem with that will always be that I still have some defaults on my credit file and also a number of accounts that I negotiated early settlements with so I doubt it’ll be any time soon I’ll have any chance of achieving what I want.

Defaults and partial settlements will always hinder access to prime products, but while you're waiting for those to drop off your credit files, using and fully paying off multiple cards should allow you to rebuild your history, even though there isn't any shortcut as such.  Does it matter that your access to credit is via multiple sub-prime cards for now?

cymruchris

After bankruptcy some time ago, I started with one card with what I seem to remember was a £400 limit (Vanquis). As the months passed I wanted to establish a more positive credit footprint, and so regularly checked eligibility checkers across a wide range of providers. As the months and years have passed I applied for quite a few cards that I was eligible for, and I now have 8 cards with a combined limit of just over £40k (I still have the Vanquis as it's my oldest card - now has a limit of £3k)

Through that journey as I opened cards, I've closed a few as well - my earlier Capital One/Aqua cards are long gone, as I've worked towards mainstream lenders and away from credit building cards. I always pay in full, so interest isn't a worry, but the average APR's over time have also dropped, so back in the early days of recovery my APR's were generally 30-40%, and now I think my lowest is around 15% with most being around 20% (Not really relevant - but if ever I do have to leave a balance in an emergency, at least I won't pay the higher APR).

I also now get regular balance transfer and money transfer offers although I haven't had the need to use them, it's nice to know they're there. I also regularly checked whether I could get a limit increase (most apps allow you to request an increase). Sometimes they said no -  and sometimes they said 'we can't give you £x but we can offer you £x' - whatever it was I always accepted it.

The one 'bank' that always said no on eligibility checkers since day 1 - Lloyds group/MBNA/Halifax/Bank of Scotland - have finally swapped to 'pre-approved' and a credit limit indicated at £6.5k this week. So there's absolutely nothing wrong with trying for a new card, and building a positive credit history over time.

As long as you can manage the cards, and keep your spend paid in full each month wherever you possibly can, it's worth asking for credit limit increases on existing cards every 6 months. and keep aiming for 'better' cards. Building a more positive credit history is a long, long journey, but with patience you will get decent cards at decent rates from decent providers, so it's not a bad thing to keep reviewing your cards and seeing which new ones you can open, eventually closing some of those with poorer APR's or limits. I can't stress enough though that in doing so - they have to be well managed, and wherever possible always paid off in full when used.

jasonwatkins

eskbanker said:

jasonwatkins said:

eskbanker said:

Nothing inherently wrong with having a wallet full of credit cards, unless you're tempted to spend unnecessarily on them, but best to use them and to pay off in full each time - are you carrying any balances?

Only around £180 across two cards but they’re things that are also about to be refunded though so when that happens then all of the cards will be fully clear.

I think, if I’m being honest, I’d prefer a single card from a “real” bank (Barclays, Lloyds etc..) with a good limit and I’d probably be happy with that.

The problem with that will always be that I still have some defaults on my credit file and also a number of accounts that I negotiated early settlements with so I doubt it’ll be any time soon I’ll have any chance of achieving what I want.

Does it matter that your access to credit is via multiple sub-prime cards for now?

To be honest, not really.  The credit itself is useful for a variety of reasons and because I’m regularly paying back the balances in full the APR never really becomes a factor either.

There have been one or two occasions over the last few years where I’ve rolled over the balance in to the following month so I’ve paid a little interest there but that was really only down to my forgetfulness and not realising it was the end of the current billing period.

I do appreciate all the replies as it’s given me a lot to think about.

I think I’m almost certainly going to close the Tesco card and replace it with the Asda one, if only for practical reasons though as I shop in Asda far more than Tesco and those Asda pounds might come in handy

eskbanker

jasonwatkins said:

There have been one or two occasions over the last few years where I’ve rolled over the balance in to the following month so I’ve paid a little interest there but that was really only down to my forgetfulness and not realising it was the end of the current billing period.

Setting up a full payment direct debit would resolve that - it's not the end of the world to carry balances (although if you failed to make even the minimum repayment that wouldn't look good) but if you're really keen to rebuild your credit history then every little helps, even if you don't use Tesco much

jasonwatkins said:

I think I’m almost certainly going to close the Tesco card and replace it with the Asda one, if only for practical reasons though as I shop in Asda far more than Tesco and those Asda pounds might come in handy

Why not keep both?

Reddleman79

I only have two at any one time, in order to easily keep track of the repayments. I do pay both off in full using direct debits. One is contactless, and the other isn't, since I modified it so there was no danger of paying for the bus fare accidentally when I can use my bus pass. I used to have three or four back in my stoozing days.

jasonwatkins

eskbanker said:

jasonwatkins said:

There have been one or two occasions over the last few years where I’ve rolled over the balance in to the following month so I’ve paid a little interest there but that was really only down to my forgetfulness and not realising it was the end of the current billing period.

Setting up a full payment direct debit would resolve that - it's not the end of the world to carry balances (although if you failed to make even the minimum repayment that wouldn't look good) but if you're really keen to rebuild your credit history then every little helps, even if you don't use Tesco much

jasonwatkins said:

I think I’m almost certainly going to close the Tesco card and replace it with the Asda one, if only for practical reasons though as I shop in Asda far more than Tesco and those Asda pounds might come in handy

Why not keep both?

At the moment, I cleared the current Tesco balance last week on Wednesday the 8th and almost a whole week later, it still hasn't cleared to the balance yet as available credit.

I keep meaning to ring them to find out what's going on but if this going to be the usual amount of time it takes to clear a payment then I'd rather not use them.   Of course it might end up being the same with Asda but we'll have to see.