118 and marbles card

magpies79

So I have a few credit cards all with low limits and hardly anything on them over the last few months I have gradually been carrying balances on them.

the 118 had £2,700 on it limit of £3,700 and marbles had £4000 on it and a limit of £4,500 I have finally paid both off it’s took a bit of hard work and lots of overtime but these are really high interest rates (have a ccj on file that’s satisfied comes off in jan)
should I close these cards I’m worried I’ll end up putting on them again or do I cut them up and leave them open.

thanks 

CliveOfIndia

If you're genuinely worried that you won't have the discipline to not spend what you can't afford, then certainly cut them up.  Of course, cutting the cards up doesn't close the account, the account will still remain open - though most card issuers will close an account anyway after a long period of dormancy.

The bigger question is, do you foresee a point in the future where you may need a credit card, and where you can trust yourself to use it responsibly?  If so, then it may be worth leaving the account open (and, dare I say it, put a small transaction through it once every couple of months and repay in full when the statement arrives, purely to keep the account active).  The reason for this is that it'll be easier to get a more mainstream card in the future if you have a bit of credit history behind you.  Assuming you were making at least the minimum payments to each of the cards every month, that'll be better than having no history at all, and once the CCJ drops off your record, you'll be in a better place to apply for something else.

Having said that, there's no reason at all why anyone has to have a credit card.  Sure, they can be a useful tool, and make it easier to hire cars, book hotels, that kind of thing - but there are plenty of people who manage perfectly well without a credit card.  So if you're worried that you may start overspending, there's probably an argument for just closing the accounts completely and not worrying about it.

prettyandfluffy

I would go online and freeze them, it makes using them a more long-winded and deliberate thing.

magpies79

Appreciate the replies wouldn’t say it’s me more my wife through peer pressure but I do feel I need to close them as the apr on these cards are like between 40-45% ones I’ve had for years trying to build up my history and have always paid balances off in full so the interest isn’t a issue but wife had a bad period through work so was living off one wage and ended up carrying balances and was starting to see minimum payments of £210 on a balance of £2,700 kinda a light bulb moment that can get into serious bother with a card like that with them kinda rates. 

My thinking was close them then hopefully in jan I’d start to see better cards become available in jan well
feb as ccj comes off jan 9th and that will be the last of 40 plus interest rate cards. 

Income is £35k my mortgage has 4 years left to run up to date no missed payments I’m 44 years old and just have 2 other credit cards Halifax limit 500 no balance and capital one limit 500 no balance mobile phone contract for £33 a month no missed payments for 6 years on file so hope that I’m in better situation credit history wise.

magpies79

prettyandfluffy said:

I would go online and freeze them, it makes using them a more long-winded and deliberate thing.

When you say long-winded isn’t it like a 2 second job log In unfreeze with things like Face ID you can be in a app in seconds nowadays see what your saying though