Hi joe8.

I understand your feelings, and Citi is a strange bird, but you might be shooting yourself in the foot, as it were, since cancelling high-limit cards will lower your credit ratio and probably your credit score.

Another approach would be to keep these cards, and when you use them, always pay off any balance during the grace period. That way, Citi will never collect any interest from you, so you get back at them that way. And since you never carry a balance and you're not paying any interest anyway, it really doesn't matter how high they raise their rates.

When you cancel credit cards, it does not become permanent for 30 to 60 days, depending on the bank. In the next few days, once you cool down, you should be able to call Citi (ask for a credit supervisor, because the first bank representative you talk to won't be able to make that decision) and ask to have your cards re-instated, just say you were confused about what the new changes meant. I see no reason why they wouldn't be happy to re-instate your cards; can't hurt to ask, right? Remember, even if the first representative says, "No", just stay cordial and ask to talk to the credit supervisor or department. They have to allow you to talk to them if you ask. The reps usually don't know what they're talking about, but they all have egos, so be gentle! Good Luck!

Thanks Barclay.

Accepting credit limit increases is fine with me; my problem is deciding whether to accept credit limit decreases (down from $10000 to $300) without cancelling the card. The $300 is such a pittaly amount that I'm not worried about it's affect on the ratio, but I'm wondering if cancelling a card, in and of itself, has some negative affect on your credit report?