What's the best way to cancel a credit card

RedDino308

Hi Everyone,

Please accept my apologies if this thread is in the wrong forum

First of all I've just managed to shuffle quite a large Lloyds C.Card sum to two new cards at a much lower rate (2.9% and 0%).:j


Now, I need to decide what to do with the old card. My understanding is that....
1) Asking the provider to reduce the credit limit is a poor move because it appears as a negative action on your credit report.
2) Reducing your overall potential endebtedness is a good thing because it can improve your credit rating.
3) Cancelling a credit card is good thing because it gets marked as settled in your credit report and it reduces your potential endebtedness.

My questions are:
a) Is my broad understanding correct?
b) How do you go about cancelling a card? My experience with Lloyds is that they can be flexible with the facts when you speak with them so I want to be fully prepared.
c) Is it worth trying to get them to drop the rate (particular for BT) so that I can shuffle another debt onto it (at a lower rate).
d) I have applied for and been accepted for the two new cards this month. If I cannot convince Lloyds to do drop the BT then I need to get yet another low rate BT card. How long is recommended to wait before applying?


Blimey, didn't realise that I had so many questions


Hope someone out there can give me some pointers.

RedDino308

beanielou

No harm is trying to get a lower BT rate~You can but try.
If you decide you want to cancel speak to them & get them to confrm closure in writng.
Points 1,2 & 3 are right.
HTH

kizzykizzywizzy

I had an empty Lloyds card, ( for emergencies ) was about to end on a 0% on virgin card, so rang Lloyds to ask for 12 months 0%, said no but offered low rate for life, said I didn't want this, can I just close the account. They then put me through to a dept that offered me the same low rate again! said no - only interested in 0 % they then offered 0% for 6 months no transfer fee! or 0% 12 months 2.5 transfer fee ( i think ) so well worth trying, as long as you are prepared to close the account if needs be, because had they not offered me the 0 % I would've done.

RedDino308

Hi Guys,

Thanks for this.

I just need to wait for my to come through and I'll put it in motion.

poorandindenial

Oh pants - I didn't realise that reducing your limit was bad, I thought that having too much available credit was worse - rookie error??

I reduced mine a while ago on two of my cards where my creditors had just kept on raising the limits and it was getting to be silly like one that had a £12500 credit limit just a year after I had taken out the card with a limit of £4500

It seems unfair that in undoing what they do to you unrequested it counts against your credit rating - not sure why I am surprised though - lol

muggles

beanielou wrote: »

No harm is trying to get a lower BT rate~You can but try.
If you decide you want to cancel speak to them & get them to confrm closure in writng.
Points 1,2 & 3 are right.
HTH

If all three points are correct, is it therefore also correct to say that having one card with a high credit limit is better than having two with lower limits?