Common misconception. Doesn't matter who closes it. What matters is you lose a positive credit tradeline. And the longer (older) that line was, the more it hurts your score.
That hasn’t been the case for us. We actually received a notice from our insurance company that said our insurance rates were going UP because of our credit risk due to zero balance/open credit accounts. I think they look at all that potential credit card debt as a risk, as would other lenders. We’ve closed lots of accounts we used for zero balance debt reduction offers, paid off, then closed. Other accounts have been closed by them for inactivity. I’m sorry, but that Amazon card sticking us for an annual effective percentage rate of 74% tells me they want us gone. Maybe we’ll just payoff the CitiAA card and leave it open, but stop using it. But then, we’ve said we were doing that before, and kept using it anyway. I think a good old savings account for emergencies and our debit card is the way I want to go. I’m sick of credit card debt and these guys are just going to keep getting worse until the law changes next year to regulate them.
Are you saying that the more available credit lines a person has, the higher their score? I'm not too sure about that. I'm over 800, have 2 credit card accounts and a mortgage. I pay the cards off each month without interest and haven't had a car loan in 5 years. I generally pay all my bills on time. I have opened and closed two credit card accounts in the last 2 years. I'm not seeing any ill effects.