Should I cancel a credit card that has changed its policy and will now be charging a fee?

Cancelling in and of itself, won't hurt your credit score, and might help it.

Cancel the card. There are a lot of free cards out there..and your score will only temporarily be affected. It will be back to normal levels in like 6 months or so.

If you do want to pay fee, then pay for some card like the Starwood Amex which has a much better value and is the only one recommended by many financial blogs on the net. They have first year no fee, $100 credit and 10,000 pts to get you started.

Read more by going here: http://paisebachao.blogspot.com/2009/08/best-credi...

If you are going to be taking out a loan for anything in the next year don't cancel it unless you have a really high credit score. Cancelling a card that you have had for a long time will cause a bug hit on your credit. If you have no intention of taking out a loan or switching insurance then cancel but get another card right away.

I did this a few years ago and was shocked at the hit my credit took.

I would close it. Your credit score is not so important that you should pay fees and interest just to maintain a credit score. If you are responsible and pay your bills on time you'll have a good credit score without having to play games like keeping old cards open and paying fees.

Ask yourself if you will benefit as much from a few extra points on your credit score as the dollar amount of the fee. So if the fee is $75 per year, do you think you'll save $75 per year on other things by keeping the card open and having a credit score that's 5-30 points higher than it would be if you closed it? I highly doubt you can justify keeping the card open if you look at it that way.

It depends, what's the limit on the credit card? A card with a higher limit will help your credit score if you keep it, and the balance is low.

Credit is based on balance owed VS credit limit.

if you owe 100 on a credit card with a limit of 3800 I wouldn't cancel it as it helps a lot.

if you owe 100 on a credit card with a limit of 500-1000 then I would cancel it because of the fee.

Higher limit vs low balance = great scores.

I wouldnt have thought that cancelling a credit card would hurt your credit rating but yes i do suggest you get a new credit card.

There will be ones out there with no charge

If you decide to cancel, that might or might not hurt your score, but it also might help your score. Apply for the "non fee" card first. When you are approved for it, then cancel the BofA card (in that order).

Call them up and see if they will waive the fee this year, or offer to transfer your account to a "non-fee" card. If you have been a good customer, they should do this.

Otherwise, yes, fees are so easily avoided by going to a more reasonable bank.

Yes absolutely cancel it, and it won't hurt your credit score. It will probably make it better.

cancel it or write and tell them you will cancel if they introduce a fee and they may waive the fee