Will voluntarily cancelling a credit card adversely affect my credit rating?

I have been told it is a negative on your credit report but I had a couple on my report I had canceled and had no trouble arranging a home loan (a legit home loan through a local bank).

I would guess not in your case. If it was your first and the only piece of your credit history yes, but you’ve got other pieces to rely on.

I wouldn’t think so. But then again, the credit reporting bureau is so wonky. Six months ago it came to my attention that I had an unpaid final bill for ATT from 6 years ago. It wasn’t reported on my credit report. The bill was for $90. I paid it immediately. At that point, it showed up on my credit report which gave me a black mark.

Yes, it’s generally negative to “cancel” a credit card. I think the reasoning is that it sends a signal to the credit reporting agencies that you have doubts about your own creditworthiness or ability to manage more debt, hence, a downgrade.

But you can cut the thing up and never use it, which amounts to achieving your object: they get no business from you.

It could. A closed line of credit means you don’t have that credit to your benefit anymore and a lot of companies when they run your report only see you have lost x amount of leverage that you once had established. My mom did this a few years back because she didn’t ever use the cards she had built credit limits with but she lost some points. Say someone is reading your report, they can see if you or your acct. closed the credit line but whatever they are considering extending you will be based on the credit bureau’s rating, the bureau sets the bar.