Should I cancel My €8000 Visa / Ask them to Limit it or just dont use it?

ronan45

Ok I have an AIB VISA CARD with an €8000.00 Limit.
(I racked up a bill of €7000 on it. I have the spent guts of 2 years paying it off and nearly there.
I was today, to ring AIB to tell them to cancel it for good, But some one advised me that if I had managed to get a credit limit of €8000 on a visa i should hang onto it as they dont give out visa cards to easy these days and certainly not these credit limits. (ya never know what might come down the tracks)
Then I was thinking I should ask them to bring the limit down to say €2000. I never intend to run up a bill again with the card.
Then again my credit history is not the best and maybe using this card and paying it off each month would be a way to repair my abbismal credit history?

my options:
Pay it off, cut it up, and cancel it totally
Pay it off, keep it at €8000 but DONT USE IT UNLESS NECCESARY
Ring AIB and ask them to put a new limit of say €2000
Keep it as is, and use it sparingly as a means to rebuild a credit report

MagicMarker

If it were me, then I'd cancel it. If you don't have money to pay for something then you don't have the money, simple as.

If you must keep it, then even 2k is too high. Lower it to €500 and put it away for emergencies.

inforfun

Just lower the limit to €1000 or something like it.
If you are tempted to get rid of it because you are afraid to built up a huge debt on it again, remember they can also be very handy in emergencies.
Sometimes something breaks and even though you dont really have the money for it, it needs to be repaired or replaced. Then a credit card is quite handy.

You just have to learn to be disciplined with it. Leave it at home when going on a night out of when shopping. Only have it with you when you have to do an emergency purchase.

crazyderk

First of all congrats on the hard work on paying it off!

I have a CC and I had cut it up with the intention of paying it off it previously, as i realized it was becoming a bad habit and I didn't want to rack up a crap load of debt like you did.

I remember stumbling across a craicin bargain while my CC was torn up and I was a week away from Payday and by the time Payday rolled around, it was to late and I missed it, I thought if only I had the CC I could of gotten that bargain.

So I got the CC back but I keep it at a limit of 1900 for emergencies which there have been a few and I would of been lost without it.

Plus its handy for flights and the such. There are times when I want to buy something that is above my limit in which case I just overpay it and use it that way!

Mac0783

Hi,

fair play to you for getting the balance down, €8,000 is a lot on a credit card, especially with all the interest you must have been paying.

I would recommend keeping it but drastically reducing your limit, i would think €1000 would be plenty, enough for flights or emergencies but not to high to payback once you run it up..

BuffyBot

It's certainly true that they're not giving out cards as easily these days, and certainly not with a substantial limit.

While it's obviously in their interest to keep you as a customer, there certainly is a grain of truth in what the person says.

However, if you don't need or can't cope with a limit of that level then you can ask for it to be reduced without an issue.

It won't "repair" your credit history as such (any problems you had stay on your credit report for 5 years after they've been sorted, irrespective of how well you manage your other financial products), but responsible management of an account showing on it will never do any harm either

Mine's 650 and that's high enough, restrict it to 500-600 and leave it at that for emergencies.

Savman

Get rid man, seriously. If you got it down from 7k then you are at the finish line, that peace of mind must be worth something to ya.

Well done btw!

EoghanConway

Congrats on paying off such a sizeable bill.

Pay it off, keep it at €8000 but DONT USE IT UNLESS NECCESARY

Keep it, it is a testament to your willpower. The only reason to give it up is if you can't afford the (what, €20 a year?) duty on it.

daithijjj

I had a limit of 5k myself for years. In the good times i could even increase or decrease that limit myself online. I increased it from 3k to 5k many years ago but having worked for 2 credit card companies in the past i knew the pitfalls.

I never really needed that amount and i never really spent that much on it. A 'problem' you may run into in the future if you dont use the card is that the bank may reduce that limit on you anyway. They sent me a letter saying my limit was going to be reduced to 1k and it did straight away. In the past they had sent me credit card cheques at advantageous interest rates (less than 5% or even 0% for first 6 months in an attempt to get me to use the facility, or thats how i saw it). Basically, i think you should keep the card based on your history. You have seen the pitfalls at first hand now and paid for it.

I would reduce it to 2k if you want some peace of mind but thats up to you, you know what the story is now. Get yourself a debit card if you dont have one already, spend what you can afford and use the credit card liberally. One item i always put on my cc was flights, purely because of the built in travel insurance with that card but that differs from each cc provider. Its also useful for significant purchases that you may require some reduced fraud liability, ie online. Apart from that, theres no real difference with a cc and a debit card.

dcr22B

OP, same situation as yourself. Got down from €6k to €0 in less than 12 months.

DO NOT CANCEL IT!

I cancelled mine before Xmas and have been refused 3 new ones since despite never having missed a payment and coming through all Irish Credit Bureau checks with flying colours. Looks like I'm finally getting sorted but some of the requests from the banks are verging on the ridiculous.

How the culture has changed for the good but not helping me looking for a small limit card for emergencies!

dirkey_wynne

Interesting debate. I can see the advantages and disadvantages of both sides. I didn't actually realise there was such a problem these days in getting a new credit card - as noted by the last post.

My own personal decision on this recently, was just to get rid. I ran up a debt on my card to the limit - not nearly as high as the OP, but still, enough for me. All the way up to the limit. After a while of being sick at the thought of it, and I had briefly mentioned it to my sister, she offered to loan me the money to pay it off. Happy days. I did that, and paid her off, bit by bit. Unfortunately, being a bit dim-witted and lacking in self restraint, I built up another nice debt on the card in the meantime. So, I had taken a loan from my sister, and was also after whipping the card back up to its limit in no time.

Good work me.

I took stock of all of this a while back, during last year, and got my ar$e in gear. I started being a bit more frugal, and paid it down. When I had paid it off fully, I happily cut it up, along with cancelling it. And I have to say, I felt fantastic. I have also managed to pay off my sister, and now have actual savings - a first for me since the good old spud picking days of my youth.

Admittedly there are one or two things that one can't buy online using laser - Amazon for one, entry to certain races I do etc, which is a tad annoying, but there are ways around it.

Personally, I feel it was great to get rid of the card. But that was me. I also think now, with savings and having lived without the card for a while, I would hope I could get one again and behave a bit more sanely. If you feel you can hold onto one without racking up a debt again, I'd say work away. They are quite handy.

But if you think yourself that you might run up a debt again, cancel the demon, and have a little cutting up ceremony.

Keano

I reckon get the limit reduced to between €500-€1000. I've currently a limit of €600 and that suits me fine. I got redundancy a number years back and paying off €5000 of my credit card felt great but horrible at the same time as I had little to show for the money spent of the card.

Eire Go Brach

You done great for getting your debt down.
But Lets be honest here, having 8000k limit on a Credit card is going to be to much temptation for you.
There is no need for it. Its madness having that limit, if you cant afford to pay it off every month.

If you need €8000 in the future. Get a proper loan. With a normal interest rate.

Credit cards should not be used like that. There handy to have. But you should try to pay them off each Month.

Don't spend Money you have not got as the interest is way to high on them.

My suggestions. Keep the card. Lower the Limit to €1500. Only use it to pay for things you cant pay cash for. Pay it off every Month. Avoid Paying interest at all costs. Get a Normal lone out in the future if you need it.

3DataModem

Enter the PIN wrong three times on an ATM. Pin wont work, so you wont be able to use it in a shop impulsively.

ronan45

Just thought I would give an update on this for anyone contemplating cancelling their card.

Since then i have been cautious with my spending. So a year on I have to say im lucky i didnt cancel it. I had some near misses where i would not have been able to pay with savings.

My car with belly up and cost 800Euro
Fridge clapped out again another 500E
Roof leak which ended up costing 600E

Now if I had of cancelled the card i would have been worried sick and would of been really caught out. The TV blew up also and was able to get it replaced on the visa.

I really have just wised up to the fact that IT NEEDS to be contained and controlled.

So a year on I would say, hang on to your visa but with common sense, Its not for luxuries, its not for impulse buys. Its a last resort and has definitly saved my bacon a good few times when i could not get funds elsewhere.
So Keep the Visa card under control and it certainly helps the odd time,.
I still have a balance but got some weekend work so every CENT from that extra income is pumped into the card. I see the visa now as the last chance saloon and only use if VITAL.

Hope someone gets some good advice from this thread in the future.

galwayjohn89

Good to hear your using the credit card properly now. There brilliant if used correctly and I would always recommend people to keep one if they have any willpower and capability to control their spending.

Having a big limit is very useful. I personally couldnt live with a 600 cc limit. Im 19 and have a 3k card (My dad is main cardholder but doesnt use it) I wanted to book flights to Vancouver for me and my four mates. A 650 card would of been useless. + Got a 10euro tesco club card vouchers!
Use credit cards properly and there brilliant for big purchases or unforseen circumstances.

duke916

ive got a c/card the last couple of years now. you have to be the kind of person who can manage their finances properly and bare in mind that its not money burning a hole in your pocket waiting to be spent which a lot of people seem to think but, money you have pay back come your next pay packet. for instance if i was to spend €100 on concert tickets or whatever, then i make sure its paid back when my wages are in my account. larger amounts i usually budget over a set number of months and stick to that amount so i know exactly when it will be cleared.

I wouldnt agree with cutting it up because as said in previous posts, it does cut the stress out of financial emergencies when there is no oher option available. As hard as it is to get a small loan or a c/card these days, then its worth having once you have the common sense to manage it.