Close Some Cards

WYSPECIAL

I've used stoozing at various levels depending on what was on offer for a long time and just kept moving from one deal to another with existing cards as much as possible.

I didn't cancel any or apply for any new cards for years but then a couple of years ago took advantage of some offers that were going and have now ended and been paid off.

As a result I currently have 12 credit cards so probably time for a cull. How do you decide which ones to ditch?

Some go back 30+ years and still come up with 0% offers so it's a long term relationship.

Some have been sold on several times and the original credit card supplier is now long since defunct, e.g. Goldfish and Mint.

Is there a criteria that people use to decide which ones to cancel, e.g. credit limit, minimum repayment, time since last 0% offer worth accepting etc?

Nasqueron

I would close the low limit ones, any that don't give any offers and especially any that meet those 2 criteria but may do as a new customer. Were it not for the YouGov finance points thing I would close the NatWest (sub 3k) and Tesco (decent limit, weak offers) as they offer decent new ones. I generally use my Barclaycard for top-ups as I typically get 2 years at 2.9% for BT or 3.5% for MT.

surreysaver

I'd definitely keep Barclaycard, they're always good for offers and they do money transfers. Barclaycard also allow you to spend on your card if there's a 0% balance on it without charging interest if you pay off the spending (handy for minimum payments not eroding the 0% balance)

WYSPECIAL

surreysaver said:

I'd definitely keep Barclaycard, they're always good for offers and they do money transfers. Barclaycard also allow you to spend on your card if there's a 0% balance on it without charging interest if you pay off the spending (handy for minimum payments not eroding the 0% balance)

It's odd but I have got two Barclaycards and always got decent offers on them with a new offer coming along just as one ended. Last two years absolutely nothing! Conversely BoS and Sainsburys come up with good offers on a regular basis and MBNA will go through a cycle of a couple of offers that aren't worth taking followed by a really good one, usually around Christmas time.

Not sure what changed that Barclaycard decided I wasn't there target audience anymore. Every now and then I spend on them and pay it straight off when the statement arrives to keep the accounts active and hope for an offer.

surreysaver

Barclaycard are weird. There's regular reports of them decreasing people's credit limit on here, but they keep increasing mine, with my next increase next month!

Nasqueron

I found with Barclays when the amount used (nowhere near the max) was higher, offers tended to fade but then come back when it was down and if you used them, you'd keep getting more!

Coveredinbees!!!!

surreysaver said:

Barclaycard are weird. There's regular reports of them decreasing people's credit limit on here, but they keep increasing mine, with my next increase next month!

I got my limit taken to nearly nothing so i cancelled it. I got a new barclaycard a couple of years ago and got a good limit on the new card, I have just finished the 0% on that one.