I'm getting my information from a former instructor (Benjamin Hanania) of mine at a community college that literally wrote the book on credit repair. But pretty much any recent book on how credit scores work will tell you the same thing. It is true that the credit bureaus all keep their actual formulas proprietary, but the people doing research into the area have seen scores before and after various actions were taken and have a good sense for what activities have what affect on a score.

A bank initiated cancelation won't hurt your score unless it is cancelation for cause. Many times banks will stop offering specific types of cards and cancel the accounts of thousands of customers all at once. Other times accounts can get cancelled because of mergers. These types of closings do nothing to your credit score in and of themselves. The only consequence they have is the extent to which the cancelation affects your total outstanding debt and total outstanding credit limit. A cancelation for cause (late payment, consistently exceeding the credit balance, etc.) by the bank will reduce the credit score.

But a customer initiated cancelation will always lower your score regardless of the reason. It may be that it also affects your outstanding credit line in such a way that the total impact is negligible. It could also be that an individual has so many credit cards that removing one or more from the picture increases the credit score by more than the customer initiated cancelation reduces the credit score. But, all other things held equal, the act of a customer initiating the closure of an account always negatively affects the credit score.

The other interesting thing I learned is how pervasive a person's credit score has become in the US. Not only does it affect how much credit you can get at what rates but it affects such things as how much your liablity insurance costs. Most liability insurance underwriters will pull your credit score based on the premise that if you're not careful with money, you'll not be careful driving your car.

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There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic
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A credit card order for Parts ordered by $COMPANY, shipped to $COMPANY and billed to $COMPANY were rejected as fraudulent.

Wee!

The only idea I have left is that you ordered by phone and someone balked at a male voice ordering parts with a card made out to female type person.

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Faith, and the possibility of weaponized kissing?
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