Closing an account is a big negative to your score, if the account is your oldest one.  And, it is different if the company involuntarily closed it, versus you closing it yourself.

Almost any credit action can be positive or negative, slightly negative or severely negative depending on many factors.  The credit scoring methodology is not identical on all 3 cresit bureaus, either.  It's a very complex system, and they don't reveal all the details of it to the public.  Some of this has been changing recently, and more detailed information is now being released to consumers.  

Mike B. 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Old Volks Home 
  To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM 
  Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2009 11:34 PM
  Subject: Re: Credit Card Alert

  Allan -

  The problem with paying off and closing the account is that it KILLS your
  FICO score, making it harder down the road to obtain credit for something
  else when it's really needed.  It's happened me in the past couple of years
  when I paid off and cancelled cards I didn't think I needed anymore, I lost
  over 60 points because of this.  I even saw a Clark Howard bit on HLN about
  this recently.  Doesn't matter if the Card Authority or you close it, it
  reads all the same (as a Negative) to the 3 Credit Reporting Agencies.

  Just pay the card off and use it sparingly for local purchases and pay the
  card off each month.  That's what I do now.
  --
  Jim Thompson
  84 GL 1.9 "Gloria"
  84 Westfalia 2.1 "Ole Putt"
  72 411 Station Wagon "Pug"
  oldvolkshome@gmail.com
  http://www.oldvolkshome.com
  jim@airheadparts.com
  ***********************************
  On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 5:43 PM, Allan Streib <streib@cs.indiana.edu> wrote:

  > Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM> writes:
  >
  > > FWIW  I also got, recently, a revision of terms letter from Discover
  > > Card..essentially taking the 'cash back' feature off.  All kinds of fancy
  > > technical terms that I didn't understand, but bottom line is you'll
  > > *probably* not be getting much cash back from Discover Card purchases any
  > > longer.
  > >   Sneaky, these financial companies...
  >
  > You're free to close your account whenever they change the terms, and
  > pay of any outstanding balance under the terms previously in effect.
  >
  > Allan
  > --
  > 1991 Vanagon GL