changing cards

whizz371 · 9 August 2018 at 10:42AM

Hi All.

First post so hello, and hope I am in the right place.

I am considering changing a credit card. I have one card that has a 5k CL on it which I very rarely use. My thought is that I should cancel it and leave it for a month, before I apply for a new card to improve my credit score. I have no existing credit score issues. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Deleted User] · 9 August 2018 at 11:08AM

Don!!!8217;t try to improve a made up score.

Keep the current card you have.

Use it tor your everyday usage and pay off in full each month following receiving the statement.

Feel free to apply for another card whilst keeping the one you have and split purchases between the both and pay them both off in full as per above

sparkey1 · 9 August 2018 at 11:45AM

Take out the new card, dont close the old card, and dont lower the limit on the old card.

If you do close it, it will lower the average age of your cards and suggest lower stability and a higher credit risk.

whizz371 · 9 August 2018 at 1:04PM

Thanks for the replies . Gary I dont think you really understand my question. I am not trying to make up a credit score. I just have a card I dont want to use that I was thinking of cancelling b4 I applied for a new card. I felt that the credit check would take into account the total of credit I already had on all of my cards, so by cancelling a card I did not use with a 5k limit on it I would reduce the total credit available to me over the other cards that I do use, there by improving my chances of getting a decent credit on the card I want to apply for. It would appear from Sparkey that this would not be the case ?

Willing2Learn · 9 August 2018 at 1:11PM

whizz371 wrote: »

...I felt that the credit check would take into account the total of credit I already had on all of my cards, so by cancelling a card I did not use with a 5k limit on it I would reduce the total credit available to me over the other cards that I do use, there by improving my chances of getting a decent credit on the card I want to apply for. It would appear from Sparkey that this would not be the case ?

You are correct - that would not be the case. It is good to have a card for a long time which has a good payment history (no late payments or arrears). Lenders like to see the stability and evidence of successful credit account management.

Like the others have said: Spend freely on your credit card(s), doing your normal grocery shopping, clothes etc, all the stuff you already budget for. Then when the statement comes in, just pay it off in full. Lenders like that.

Hope that helps

[Deleted User] · 9 August 2018 at 1:19PM

You said you were trying to improve your !!!8220;credit score!!!8221;.

The score the CRA!!!8217;s issue are made up and are not to be looked at.

Keep the card you have and apply for another one.

changing cards

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free