Credit card advice please

[Ellabella989]

I have 3 credit cards from when I was younger (all of them have around a 3k limit) and I’ve finally managed to pay them all off. Would you say it’s best to keep the accounts open or to close 2 of them down and just keep 1 open? I don’t plan on really using any of them other than for food shopping and will pay off the balance in full each month. I have no need for more than 1 of the cards now but I don’t want to potentially affect my credit rating by cancelling the other 2. Thanks

I can't see how cancelling unused cards will be detrimental to your credit rating and even if it is, it's only a minor knock.

Definitely a good plan to keep one and use it for some of your normal outgoings and pay it off every month.

Keeps up a good credit rating, useful for emergencies, cheaper than an overdraft, benefits like cashback and purchase protection, can make managing finances simpler (if you do all your spending on a credit card that is paid off every month, you don't have to worry about spending money needed for direct debits later in the month and just need to check on payday that there is enough money in the account for all upcoming direct debits including the credit card bill), good for managing cashflow.

Close 2 down and keep one open. I noticed last time I remortgaged that they wanted to know how much credit you had available to access - which was a bad thing in the affordability calculation. Great achievement paying all of these off by the way

Thanks both. Do you think if I get offered credit increases in the future then it’s best to request that you don’t want them if mortgage advisors don’t want to see you with lots of accessible credit?

Probably, yes. Also if you don't actually need the extra credit, why have it ?