Does it cost you anything to have that card?...No fee for a card not used or some such?
If not I would keep it....just in the event that a similar snafu happened with the card you currently use....then you would have a back up.

Absolutely keep it. The higher your overall available credit is compared to balance is a huge factor in creating your credit score.

Suze Orman says not to cancel old credit cards. Just stop using it. I agree with Linda -- also consider any fees.

It's a no fee card and there has been no charge for inactivity over the last almost 2 years. I hate to send up a flag by calling to ask if they do charge for inactivity but have to think there would have been a charge by now - or is it possible that's yet to come?

kellyeng - I knew the ratio of available credit to balance was a factor but was unsure how big a factor - I'd like to know more about it - any recommended source?

Everything I've seen/heard about this is not to cancel credit cards. Cancelling them does affect your credit scores. That said, at one point I had 3 separate credit cards issued by the same bank. I use only one and pay the balance in full every month. I have received letters from the bank requesting that I either use the cards or said cards would be cancelled effective 30 days of the receipt of said letter. I didn't use them, and those accounts have been cancelled. DH hates credit cards and prefers to pay cash for purchases. I did check with the 3 credit bureaus regarding whether the cancellation by the bank for lack of use of those two cards would affect our credit scores. All three claimed that it would not, and I did manage to obtain fax confirmation of that assurance. I did pull reports at 90 days after their cancellation, and our scores hadn't changed. Unless the card company contacts you about cancelling for lack of use, I wouldn't cancel.

Most information I have seen is to keep your oldest credit card, as the length of your credit history is one factor of the score. The debt to credit ratio does play into the score as well.

My thoughts would be if it is your oldest account, keep it open. If your credit score is rather good and you have an older card, go ahead and cancel it. My fear with open accounts that are not used is it means something can happen if you are not closely tracking it and it can be a big pain in the patootie to clear up, things such as identity theft, somebody mixing up accounts (as you have seen) etc.

I would love to see regulation of the credit score, how it is determined etc as it now checked for job interviews, insurance rates, you name it.

Here's a Fico score breakdown and article about the cancellation of card issue-

Here is a link that might be useful: credit card/fico

Are you planning on taking out a loan anytime soon? Do you have a lot of debt already? Are you planning on taking a new job? If not, then you probably don't need to worry about your FICO score.

Article below by the excellent Megan McArdle, economist blogger for the Atlantic.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ins & Outs of closing a credit card

The graph in the link Stinky provided is a great visual:

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Thanks for those links, stinky & awm - good information.

We have no immediate plans for a loan but want to move at some point in the foreseeable future and will likely want to do a bridge loan at that time. Because of that, keeping our score high is important to us. DH is self employed so no job changes coming. We have no credit card debt, no car loans, no balance on our equity line - only our mortgage which is