Will canceling credit card with zero balance affect my credit score?

Do not close that account! Because you already have 4, I'm assuming good-standing, years for that account, it would terribly shorten your credit history and eliminate the available credit, two major components of a credit score.

If it wasn't so old, I may have suggest for you to cancel it, but not now. Keep the account open for emergencies and for the history. You also need to train yourself to view the monthly statements to ensure it isn't used if you don't plan to use it yourself.

Check out the first part of the link below, describing 4 credit-scoring myths.

Whether or not your credit will be adversely affected if you cancel the card depends on the percentage of available revolving credit that this card uses and how it can counteract any negative acct info on your report. However, if you leave it on there it will stay listed as an account that's in good standing. This could be an advantage to you if you want. If you never use the account, it will appear to other creditors that you've maintained a good account for a long period of time. They can't tell whether or not you've ever actually purchased anything with the card. I did this with a Discover card I had that was at $0 balance. I deactivated the account instead of cancelling it so that it couldn't be used via fraud, then I left it on my credit report. Now it shows that I have a perfect payment history with Discover for the past 10 yrs when in fact it's just a card that I never used or even wanted to use.

Canceling a credit card CAN affect your score without a doubt. Credit scoring models are complex and they look at a variety of factor including length of credit and availability of credit. That is the two POSITIVES for the Chase card you have. It is a card that you've had for several years even though you never used it and you have plenty of available credit with your zero balance. Both of those are factored into your current score. If you cancel the card it will affect your score negatively. Keep it open and just put it in a safe place so you are not tempted to use it.

Here's some info from Bankrate.com explaining how canceling cards affects your score.

Canceling a large amount of unused credit could actually hurt your credit score.

Credit-scoring models look at a number of factors when calculating your score, including the result of the following formula: The total amount of debt on credit cards and revolving accounts divided by the total amount of debt available on those accounts.

This formula results in a fraction less than one. The lower the fraction the better. A score of one would mean your outstanding debt equals your available credit and you've maxed out your cards.

Folks without a penny of credit card debt can cancel as many unused card accounts as they want. As long as their credit cards are balance-free, it won't hurt their credit score a bit.

If you're in credit trouble or if you had credit problems in the past and you know an unused store card is just going to tempt you to spend, then go ahead and close the account.

Yes, it may ding your credit score a bit. But if it will keep you from acquiring more debt, it's best to do it. You can worry about building up your credit score after you're back on your feet financially.

YES it can

It reduces the amount of available revolving credit. If your revolving available starts to fall below 80% you get huge hits on your FICO

The theory is, if you are truly responsible and disciplined with credit, than you can keep a card at -0- bal and never spend it. People that maintain balances on their credit cards are more of a risk than people who do not. Threfore the less revolving debt you have (as a percentage of your revolving available), the higher your score

No it will not affect your credit score. On your credit report it will just show a line of credit closed. If you have other lines of credit open and in good standing then it should not negatively impact your credit score.

be sure to call them and tell them you want the card cancelled because of non-use.

It shouldn't but if you don't use it any more it would be prudent to close the account.

No.