OK, so who can figure this out for me? Credit Card logic.

[yy4me]

It is presented to us and has been for years that we should have a credit card for emergencies.

Use your credit card to keep your account active.
Pay off your credit card every month so you avoid interest.
Don't pay it all every month or you are a bad account.
Don't have too many cards, bad for your credit.
Have more than one, any less is bad for your credit.
Don't pay on time and your interest rate goes up.
Pay on time and your interest rate goes up.
No credit card?
You are unworthy of credit.

I have only one card and so help me, If B of A raises my rate, off they go. I'll eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a year before I give them a penny more than my current rate of interest.

I'm tired of hearing that they have to make money. They do. Everyone who accepts a credit card as payment pays the CC companies a percentage of the sale.

What they do not need is the billions paid to corporate big-whigs for bonus's and perks.

Disallow those disproportionate payments and things would be a little rosier for them.

I have no sympathy for any of them. They will lose good customers and leave themselves more vulnerable to bad debt. They are punishing themselves for their own greedy behavior and I hope it backfires.

[NC_Nurse]

1. I think it sucks that your credit score drops when you cancel a card. Where's

your recourse if they treat you poorly? If they start charging me a fee to have a card, I want to cancel, but it will hurt my credit. They've got you trapped.

[MercutioATC]

2. Use cash

That's the best way of getting them back.

[Gormy Cuss]

3. Your credit score may drop only slightly if you close just one card.

If you have excellent credit, other cards and other debts like mortgages or a car loan, canceling the card may have a negligible effect on your creditworthiness. It all depends.

That said, closing an account in good standing shouldn't ever create a reduction in credit score if the scoring model were appropriate to real life. It's the problem with modeling -- the output is only as good as the validity of the inputs.

[ejpoeta]

4. that's the problem with them getting to set up how you are rated.

they make it so you need a credit card to create history. and there is no place to put an explanation as to why you canceled the card. it's a racket if you ask me.