What looks better to mortgage lender: 1 card or 2?

Herzlos

The current situation is that I have 2 credit cards, both on 0% until the end of the year with card 1 expiring first:

Card 1 has a balance of £9000

Card 2 has a balance of £1500.

I've also got £1000 in a short terms savings account with a view to paying down the cards before they start charging interest.

I'm viewing a property this week with a view to moving and increasing the mortgage from about £100k to £180k.

So questions:
1. Does the arrangement of the cards make any difference to a mortgage lender?

1a. Am I better trying to clear card 2 so that I've only got 1 card? or

1b. Am I better paying down card 1 so the balance is lower, with longer interest free?

1c. Am I just as well leaving them as-is and borrowing £1000 less.

2. It won't show up in a credit report until next month, so does it make any difference at this stage anyway?

MWT

I doubt the lender is going to be swayed much by 1 card vs 2, nor will they care a lot about it being interest-free, they will probably just look at it as about £300 or so a month reduction in your affordability...

They will ask about your current debts though so it doesn't really matter if it is currently visible on the credit report or not, you will have to disclose it...