So I know credit scores don’t really matter here in the UK, but I also know credit history does. I am curious just how much it matters though, especially when it comes to individual accounts. I’m in the process of simplifying our finances and I’d like to close a credit card (as I’ve opened a new, better one with the same bank). The only reason I am hesitating is it is our oldest UK card, so I worry closing it will have an impact on our credit. Does anyone know what sorts of accounts are included in the average credit age metric? Do checking/savings accounts count (in which case closing one card shouldn’t matter much)? Or will closing our oldest account not matter as much here anyway?
Purely anecdotal but I’ve constantly rotated between 0% spending cards in the past, closing the oldest one as I go and never noticed any problems or issues with future credit applications.
1 Like
Thanks, that makes sense
If you’re concerned, don’t close the account. Cut up the card, but keep it open. Unless there is fees or criteria to meet?
Otherwise, I use them similar to what was mentioned above. I periodically get a 0% card, spend on it, pay it off, let it expire (to the point the bank close it for me) and then apply for one at a different bank whenever I need one again. Rinse and repeat. Never had any issues either.
1 Like
Oh I want to close them because I am a little OCD and I don’t like having too many cards open at once. Not because I’m bad with credit cards. Having two high-limit NatWest cards just bugs me, so I want to close the older one I’ve stopped using.
With the general understanding of your circumstances that I can gather from other threads, I doubt the age of credit will really have a massive impact.
How old are all the credit cards? If some of them are several years old it would probably be fine should you ever want to apply for anything else. If the rest are only a few months old then maybe keep it open.
Also do you mind sharing which one of the two NatWest products you’re keeping? The black one I presume?
The closed account will show in your credit history for 6 years after closure and will be used as part of your history. One thing though, your history looks better to lenders if you have high credit limits but are only using a small portion of that. It would therefore be best to leave the account open and unused if possible. Remember paying everything off every month actually may not help your score as depending on timings it may look like you don’t use your cards if they always report a zero balance
on the UK side, the card I’d like to close is ~7 years old, the three I’d be leaving open are: my Monzo Flex (~1.5 years old), a Natwest 0% card I opened 8 months ago to give stoozing a try (which I’ll be closing early next year), and the Natwest Premier Black card I opened two weeks ago. So my oldest account would go from 7 years to 1.5 years. I’m not planning on opening any new products for a while though, so I’m not too bothered.
The US side will be a bit more of a jump though, the card I’m planning on closing there has 17 years of history whereas the only other US card I currently have I opened last week…. 
Yep, keeping the new Black card, closing the old rewards card. I’ll also be closing a 0% stoozing card early next year but keeping my Monzo Flex.
1 Like
Good to know the card stays on the history for a while, that makes the decision much easier! Credit usage will not be an issue, though I do pay them off every month and I hadn’t thought about that being reported as zero balance each month…
It doesn’t really work like that, they report the statement balances, so as long as there has been spend on the card it’ll be reported even if it’s cleared off in full. If you paid the card manually before it generated a statement then it would report £0 usage, but there’s no real need to do that, just pay in full by direct debit and then each statement will get reported. It absolutely is best to clear the card off and certainly not worth accruing interest for the sake of how it looks on a credit file, it’s perfectly possible to have the full balances reported and still pay 0 interest.
2 Likes
Personally I’d keep it open but at the same time I don’t think it’d have a huge impact on anything. As mentioned above it’d still be on your file so they could see it used to exist.
When it comes to what’s on the credit file and what lenders may be wary of, it’s things like high utilisation, lots of new accounts, and missed payments that would be a concern to them, which are fairly obvious things you’d know about without needing a credit report or score to tell you about. Anecdotally at least, it’s in the lenders’ interest to want to offer their product to you as it’s an opportunity to make money from you, so unless there were significant warning signs you’d probably be accepted for future products regardless of the age of oldest account factor.
1 Like
You know I always pay off every credit card completely at the end of the month, mostly because I like seeing £0 balance (full credit available), i.e. not even waiting for the statement to generate… I wonder if that is negatively affecting my credit, since my statement balance truly is £0 each month?
It depends when they generate them. I have some credit cards I pay off on payday which is the 1st of the month for me as I also want those to be £0 at the start of each month, whereas others get paid whenever they’re due by direct debit, but the ones I pay manually generate a statement some time during the month so report at least some balance.
I would suggest you request to change the statement date to say the 25th or something. That way the majority of the spend will be reported, and you can still clear it at the end of the calendar month.
1 Like
Ultimately does it matter? If you haven’t had any issues getting credit then I wouldn’t overthink it too much.
1 Like
I personnaly keep my oldest current account and oldest credit card and rotate the rest to keep the history.
Recommend the MSE guide to credit ratings
I think the free credit score apps are useful but also dangerous. It’s useful to be able to see what’s reported and ensure it’s accurate. It’s dangerous as they seem to want to family it, and give somewhat pointless warnings and tasks.
If it makes sense to use it, use it, if it doesn’t don’t. If your not using an account, and don’t see yourself using it the future close it
Yes it makes sense to have some stability, it’s normal to keep the same bank account and cards for a few years. The best way to do this is IMHO is to think before opening a new account. Trying to artificially meet a stability metric will be seen through
Strangely, a Halifax account that I’d long since forgotten about appeared on my credit report a month ago which has taken my average account age way up as it was opened 40 years ago.
I recently had an old HSBC credit card that was closed 20 years ago reappear, but as closed