HI, I have heard that if you have a lot of credit card accounts - even unused with no balances on, then this can affect your credit rating. Is this true? I have recently applied for 2 credit cards because i want to transfer a balance from Virgin as I have missed a payment and they now charge me interest and I have been refused 2 cards. I do not believe that there should be any problems with my credit rating as i have a reasonable size mortgage that i have never missed paying and not in any debt apart from about £2500 on credit card.

So i wonder if this is true as i have had rather a few different credit cards in the past, but when i have taken a new account I have ripped up the old card and not used it but i have never thought about cancelling the account. I have looked in my paperwork to see if i have any paperwork from previous cards but unfortunately i haven't - once accounts were cleared I must have got rid of paperwork.

Is there anyway i can find out what remaining acocunts i have?

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

Only thing I can contribute is if cards are still sent out automatically to replace old ones sort it out somehow if you plan to move.

Hello KM31,

One of the things a potential creditor will look at is how much credit you could access if you wanted to (or if you went mad in Vegas, that kind of thing).

This means that existing accounts will be taken into consideration as they have no way of knowing that you would not choose to use them.

Also, having lots of unused cards exposes you to greater risk of credit card fraud, so leaving accounts open is not a good idea!

You can check your credit rating and see exactly what the card providers see; you can obtain a copy of your credit report from the main credit reference agencies Equifax and Experian.

You might also find this article useful: The secret path to a better credit rating.

I hope that is some help, good luck with it.

Felicity

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Felicity King-Evans, Deputy Site Editor
felicity.king-evans @ moneysupermarket.com

Sorry, I think I didn't make that entirely clear - your credit report will show you what is still open.

Good luck!

Felicity

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Felicity King-Evans, Deputy Site Editor
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Thankyou, I will get a credit Report then ahd get any unused accounts deleted.

Hi,

If you have other credit cards already you could contact these companies to ask what sort of interest rate they would offer for your balance transfer. May save you adding another search(es) to your credit record.

Also if you are only using a portion of your credit balance and don't intend to use more, you could also ask Virgin (MBNA) to reduce your credit limit. E.g. if it was a 10K limit and you are only using 2.5K as Felicity says they think that you have (and you do) a facility of another 7.5k so will be less likely to offer more.

HTH.

Sparky.

KM31:Thankyou, I will get a credit Report then ahd get any unused accounts deleted.

You can pay various amounts, even so called "free", to get online or regular credit reports but the £2 statutory report is perfectly adequate.

The thing to look for is that your old accounts are marked "settled". If not you will need to contact the lender at the address provided with the report. You cannot delete a settled entry though it will disappear 6 year after settlement. In any event a settled entry is a good entry becuase it indicates you can clear credit.

Thanks, thats helpful because i have wondered about all these 'spam' emails you get offereing a free credit Report, the only one I have really heard of is Experian - do you know if this company is ok? Definately worth me having one done as it would be worth checking if there are any other 'bad comments' for example braodband co and mobile co's - mentioning no names(ok then, Talk Talk and 3) who suddlenly send debt collectors letters saying i owe them money when i dont - and eventually get them to agree that it is clear - but you never know. Suppose evryone should have a report done from time to time.

Thanks again.

Hi,

Thank you that is very useful information too. Will give it a try.

Hi KM31,

Your banks use Experian and Equifax as the main credit reference agencies.

There is a website called Creditexpert that is run by experian, which you can use to get your report, or subscribe to to get updates on activity on your credit record. I think I pay 6.99 per month for this.

This will give you a summary of the amount of credit that you have access to (outside mortgages).

It will also showed Linked addresses and linked persons where you had obtained credit at different addressess, and who you may have applied jointly for credit with.

It is worth checking these carefully as I had some erroneous linked addresses and multiple versions of the same address.

You can ask to have these removed, which experian will go back to the credit company (bank) and confirm.

Good luck.

Sparky.

Why don't you contact one of the credit reference agencies, e.g. Equifax. If you do this over the internet, they should supply you with a list of all the credit you have and also give you a credit rating at the same time. Hope that helps!