Liz Weston

Dear Liz: I have heard that you should never close credit card accounts of your own volition because that can hurt your credit scores. Are there any exceptions? I received a credit card several years ago, when my credit scores were in the toilet because of a number of collection accounts and delinquencies. I had no other open credit cards, so when they offered me unsecured credit, I accepted it willingly. The interest rate was (and is) 23.99%, and I was charged a $72 annual fee. Now, six years later, my credit scores are greatly increased. But you would never know it by this issuer. They have refused my request to lower the interest rate, and the annual fee has now gone up to $99 a year. My credit limit is $2,100 and a credit line increase of $150 would cost me a $14.95 fee. Under these circumstances, would you still counsel not to close this account?

Answer: Closing credit accounts won’t help your credit scores and may hurt them. But that doesn’t mean you should never close an account.

If you have several other credit cards, your credit scores probably won’t suffer much of a hit from a single account closure and will recover quickly from any damage done. You don’t want to close accounts if you’re still trying to improve your scores or if you’re in the market for a major loan, such as a mortgage or auto loan. Otherwise, though, there’s no reason to continuing paying for a card you no longer need.

If this is still your only credit card, you should use your good scores to open one or two cards with better deals. Then you can say good riddance to this one.