What should i do with my cards?

A question about : What should i do with my cards?

Hi all, long time reader and first time poster here.

In the next week or so I will be consumer debt free - I'm in the process of buying my first home with my wife, and I still have a student loan.

My situation is that I have a Barclaycard Initial, interest rate of about 19%. I cleared it last year on a balance transfer to a 0% card, but as it's been open since 2010 I have kept it open for the positive impact on my credit report of a long term line of credit. The balance limit is Ј1600

I have a second card, balance limit of about Ј1000, which I opened last May. Then the third and final card I opened in November to finish the balance transfer from the Barclaycard. This one is with M&S, is a MasterCard with a limit of Ј4,000, has 0% on spending for about a year and I also earn M&S points.

When all three are cleared, my plan was to close the middle card (Halifax visa) as it has interest on spending and no perks. I would then keep the Barclaycard purely because of how long I've had it, and the M&S for the limit and rewards.

Credit card spending will only be used for purchases that can be repaid in the month, and I will probably have a direct debit to clear the balance each month.

I'd like to know if this is the best thing to do though. Is keeping the Barclaycard sensible, or should I close the M&S one and get a different card with better spending rewards?

Best answers:

• Hi - welcome to the forum as a poster (rather than a lurker )
  I think keeping your longest card is a good idea - hopefully someone a little more knowledgeable will come along and advise you further of which cards to cancel
  good luck with the 1st house purchase
  DB
• When your BarclayCard is paid off, phone up and ask to convert it to a BarclayCard Cashback card. Pays 1% Cashback on AmEx and 0.5% on VISA. If you're going to keep it open you might as well get something back.
• yes, i would look to change it into something useful. if they won't, i would close it.
• Webcat said:-
  Quote:
• bump bump.
• Stay with Barclaycard, by far the best credit card provider. Call them up and see what they can offer you. They normally have excellent deals.
  Sam
• To the OP I would say there is no need to cancel any of the three cards as three credit cards plus your overall exposure to credit (depending on salary) does not seem excessively high.
  Having a number of cards can be beneficial as there will often be existing customer offers for example Halifax seem to have a permanent balance transfer offer for me when I log onto my online banking with them.
  I would maybe see if you can upgrade either the Barclaycard or the Halifax card for something more rewarding but would not cancel any of them outright at this stage.