I just cancelled my Bank of America credit card today – I actually had two with BOA, but they cancelled one due to inactivity towards the end of last year. I must have missed notification – if they even need to send it. So, I cancelled the remaining card.

I hadn’t carried a balance on the cards for probably over a year now, but didn’t want to cancel them in case the reduction in available credit would impact my overall credit score and therefore my rates on existing balances.

But with the new credit card rules coming into effect and the current state of lending – I feel that now is as good a time as ever to cancel my zero balances. I’m making good progress in paying down debt and if there are any repercussions to canceling cards – I’m betting that it will help in the long run if I just start making adjustments now.

One thing I do know so far is that I’m thrilled to no longer have any ties to Bank of America.

The Daily Show took a turn trying to explain the effect that the new credit card rules will have. Funny and frightening at the same time…

This past weekend I watched the documentary “Maxed Out”  (trailer here)based off the book of the same name by James Scurlock. I definitely recommend this movie to those, like me, trying to get out of credit card debt and also to parents of kids heading off to college (where it seems to all begin).

So I have 10 credit cards right now.  But thankfully, not all of them have balances on them.  In fact, four of my credit cards now have zero balances, but I have not closed them due to fears that it will knock my debt to credit ratio out of whack (more than it already is) and hurt me more than help me.

But in reviewing this old consumerist post, I’m wondering if I should cancel the zero’d out cards now and continue to do so as I whittle my balances down or if I should just wait until I’m completely debt free and have a little card canceling party?  It would be really fun to call these guys up sooner rather than later to say thanks, but no thanks.  But my sense is that I should wait.

I’d really be interested to know what you guys think and why?  Have any of you experienced adverse effects of closing out your cards while still paying down credit card debt?

…well a little at least.

According to this article on CNN.com:

Buying gasoline with a credit card could be hurting your local independent gas station owner – and you may have to pay for it.

That’s because credit cards charge merchant fees in the form of a percentage of sales – and those fees eat into the fixed per-gallon sum that gas retailers tack onto pump prices.

Some stations raise prices in order to keep profit steady.

It makes sense. All I know is that I’m glad that I now have shredded all my credit cards and have taking public transportation to work for a full year now. The timing seems to have worked out in my favor.

Interesting article about the credit card regulation on LAtimes.com today.

Among other things, the regulation asks for:

• Bills to be mailed out 21-days prior to due date
• An end to the practice of applying payments only to balances with the lowest interest rates (leaving the higher rate debt in full)

But what I found to be one of the best excerpts from the story was:

Just ask Victoria Ramirez. The San Jose elementary school teacher once had as much as $45,000 in debt on six different cards.

Now she and her husband have whittled that down to a balance of about $10,000 on a single card.

Ramirez, 37, said card issuers make it all too easy to get into trouble.

“They loan you a big amount of money that you can’t take care of,” she said.

This isn’t so different from what’s happening in the housing market. One reason so many people are in danger of losing their homes right now is because banks handed out high-risk loans to folks who had no business getting deep into debt.

To be sure, many such loan recipients deserve a share of the blame for being so reckless with their personal finances. But they wouldn’t have gotten into trouble without the willing complicity of lenders, which encouraged virtually all home buyers to take the plunge, regardless of their ability to repay loans.

While I agree with that – I’m most impressed by her debt reduction. They don’t say how she did it or what the time frame was, but debt reduction is debt reduction and I can’t wait to join the club.

Also, I just want to call out that I don’t think that the debt crisis is the credit companies fault. And I don’t think that they are to blame for my situation either. I think we should all be responsible. But drug dealers that don’t do drugs still go to jail, know what I mean? Sure people have to be responsible for their actions, but they should not be enabled to ruin their lives.