Should I close down zero balance cards?

Naomim

I had my true LBM in Nov 2019 and have been consistently paying down my debt.  I am lucky all my CC debt is on 0% interest after balance trasnferring which leads me to my question below:

I'm thinking I might need to start closing down some of my zero balance credit cards.  There are three MBNA cards, one Halifax card and one Tesco card all with zero balance.  I have approx £80k of credit available and I do not need that!

It might be handy to keep one MBNA as they do offer balance transfers and only have a 1% minimum payment fee. Tesco have not offered me any balance transfers for over a year  However, with a large amount of credit available and only owing approx £16.5k now, I wonder if I reduce the amount of available credit, will it look like I'm over leveraged?  

Any thoughts appreciated!

Naomim

Nasqueron

Ignore the effect on the fake credit score from "utilisation", CRAs love that metric for some reason, but some say 25%, some 30% some 50% which says it all - just made up nonsense.

Close cards that have no perks and no decent offers. I paid down a NatWest one and will clear a Tesco one this month, both have poor offers so I won't use them but they're tied to the YouGov finance thing earning me points so I can't close them until they allow you to change again! 

No harm in having around your salary in credit provided you have a good credit history and are clearing down the 0% balance. Personally I would do the following:

Close Tesco
If you can (I was able to but no guarantees) change the Halifax to a Clarity one for foreign travel
Ask MNBA about merging the 3 into 1 credit balance if they have good offers, else close 2 and keep the biggest limit

Naomim

Thank you.  I will start closing.

I have just been accepted for a 0% purchases card for a pre-planned largish purchase. (Funds already saved to pay it in full but thought I'd spread the cost). So I think it's a good idea to get rid of some that aren't offering me anything.  

Olenna

I would try to convert your MBNA to their travel cashback credit card - that card offers 0.25% cashback along with being being forex free and would effectively negate the reason to retain/obtain Halifax Clarity. 

eschaton

I close credit cards as soon as they’re repaid. 

No point having available credit tied up in a card you don’t use. 

Use it to open a new card with free money.