Should I close down zero balance cards?

Baldeagle095

I simply refuse to pay banks and credit card companies any interest or balance transfer fees.
Effectively that means closing 0% spending cards on expiry of their introductory offer period.
That is my golden rule.

EL_Gringo13

Just jumping into this discussion as I always believed that closing a credit card wasn't always good idea, even if the balance was Nil, as it could affect your credit score. Tbe reason being is that it reduces your overall available credit limit. I'm happy to be told that my assumptions are wrong, and as an aside, I have no desire to maximise my available credit.

mta999

I always thought when assessing you for a credit card application they looked at how much of your current credit availability you were using - so for example 25% or 50% therefore having unused zero balance credit cards helped this

Nasqueron

EL_Gringo13 said:

Just jumping into this discussion as I always believed that closing a credit card wasn't always good idea, even if the balance was Nil, as it could affect your credit score. Tbe reason being is that it reduces your overall available credit limit. I'm happy to be told that my assumptions are wrong, and as an aside, I have no desire to maximise my available credit.

Credit scores in the UK are a gimmick, lenders never use them, they don't even see them

Some CRAs say you should have less credit as it makes you less of a risk so your argument is similarly flawed

Nasqueron

mta999 said:

I always thought when assessing you for a credit card application they looked at how much of your current credit availability you were using - so for example 25% or 50% therefore having unused zero balance credit cards helped this

Utilisation is a CRA thing, they love to bang on about it, but they don't make clear the difference between balances on 0% promo rates and carrying a balance you're paying interest on. A balance on a 0% rate (sometimes marked as a P) can be as high as 95%, common after a BT, but as it's 0% it's a vastly lower issue than someone with 40% but who is only paying the minimum and having interest added every month

eschaton

EL_Gringo13 said:

Just jumping into this discussion as I always believed that closing a credit card wasn't always good idea, even if the balance was Nil, as it could affect your credit score. Tbe reason being is that it reduces your overall available credit limit. I'm happy to be told that my assumptions are wrong, and as an aside, I have no desire to maximise my available credit.

As others say, just a made up number. 

My latest ‘score’ is or very close to the lowest it has ever been. I have a perfect credit history. 

I had recently repaid an expiring card. Credit report updated a few days ago and another 6 points down. All by repaying £3630 and dropping £8k of available credit. Nothing but a sales tool. 

I paid my mortgage off nearly 6 years early, 11 months ago. My ‘score’ has never recovered. Only downhill since.