The key point in your context and validated on this site more than once is that it is the total credit available to you on these cards, £7k+ here, which can seriously effect borrowing power and whatever else so borrowing ZERO but liability to CC companies £7k+ the key.

Thank you for your reply.

The cards I want to shift all have nil balances for several months so my best bet would be to ask the issuers to close the accounts now. I have read that accounts remain active for some months even after a request to close them so using the cards would actually make the process longer.

You should check the agreement cancellation terms of cards you wish to terminate, some require 30 days written notice..it's advisable to send by recorded delivery.!

Also note; if you had transferred a balance from old cards to the new card, there would likely be a % handling fee of the transferred amount.?

Nope - you current card (the one your transferring from) will still be active and usable just with a 0 balance. If you do not want it once the balance has been closed contact the card issuer to close it.

I have several cards I need rid off (off or of in this context???). I have just been approved for a new card but have discovered that because of the application my 'credit score' dropped a mind boggling 140 points from excellent to fair!!! I now have 5 cards with a combined balance of £259 and borrowing available of over £7k. I want my credit score reduced so I need to cut my borrowing so 3 cards got to go!

Anyway I have a few Christmas purchases in mind and wondered if I could 'kill two birds with the one stone'. I know I could just make the purchases on the new card but.. If I buy using the old cards then transfer the balances (£800 tops for the 3). Would this effectively close the old accounts? Or do I have to go through some procedure to make sure these accounts are finally closed.